Within Me Burning
by Stargategeek
Summary: Post-World War II. A castle on the Scottish riverside is being terrorized by a mysterious and apparently lovesick brute. Helen dispatches Nikola from France to look into the matter and to safeguard the young chinese girl the brute's set his sights on. But not all is as it seems.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

_It was many and many a year ago_

_In a kingdom by the sea…_

_**~~~~Scotland, 1948~~~~**_

The lightning slashed across the stormy night sky over Perthshire, Scotland.

The tides of the River Tay crashed against its banks as the wind blew the water here and there and against the aged rocks forming the small hill holding the old stone house away from the water's curling and destructive fingers.

Another bolt of lightning cracked through the sky.

The house was just outside of the old city Perth, an in-between mark for Perth and a smaller city known as Kintillo. It was a few kilometers up from the Bridge of Earn, following the famous River Tay on its brutal course, just tucked on the outside of civilization.

On this night, the stone house held a foreboding sense of dread. Whether it was the lightning and thunder above it, the angry river beneath it, or the dreary stones upon it, the night spoke to a great misfortune.

Thunder rolled across the sky.

His footsteps where heavy, even in the wet grass they made a harsh and thundering thump.

The wind swept across his broad shoulders but could not stir him from his course.

Each step brought him closer to the house.

There were no lights on inside, no doubt all it's patrons we're fast asleep or watching the storm from the cozy comfort of their beds. Completely unaware of his presence; that's how he wanted it.

He held a tool box in his right hand. An ordinary red handyman toolbox, but in the flash of the lightning looked like the bloody toolbox of an insane killer, ready to make his next strike.

He reached the edge of the stone building and removed his cap and dropped it on the ground carelessly.

He gently placed the toolbox down and opened it, brushing the dripping rain off his face. The toolbox was not filled with the ordinary tools one would use to repair or to build. It contained a small paint container, coated with a thick layer of honey-like resin, a large used paintbrush, and a pair of gloves covered in the same resin as the paint can.

He put on the gloves and gently opened the top of the paint can, grabbing its handle and carefully lifting it out of the box.

In the other hand he grasped the large paintbrush.

Gingerly, he walked over to the stone wall on the east side of the house, careful not to spill a drop of the red, blood like substance in the can.

He found his position and delicately dunked the paintbrush in the resin and quickly began swiping it across the stones. He was writing, and he was writing quickly. Even with the rain, the red liquid ate through his brush, slowly.

He finished his message quickly, and smiled at his handiwork before placing the paint can down and tossing the melted paintbrush away.

Suddenly a guard dog turned the corner and began barking at him fiercely.

The man barely blinked at the intrusion. He picked up the paint can and tossed its contents onto the hound and soon it's fierceness melted in a yipe, and the dog ran away leaving a dripping trail of burning liquid behind him.

The man grinned cruelly and went back to his toolbox putting the paint can back in to it and closing it up again.

He put on his cap and in a flash of lightning seemed to disappear in the night.

The maid was awoken by the most bloodcurdling howling she'd ever heard in her life. It was one of the guard dogs.

"Bloody storm," she mumbled to herself as she ascended the stairs with her candle. "Got them in a fit."

The lightning shone through the windows of the large house as she continued her trek from the lower level sleeping quarters to the main level. She'd put the dogs in the stable and give them a pigs ear to chew on and that would calm the blasted howling that was keeping her awake. It was hard enough to sleep with the storm raging on as it was.

She slipped on her raincoat and stuck the candle into an old lantern.

The howling continued.

Perhaps the dog was startled and found itself caught in the chicken fence, or something.

The maid put on her rain boots and took an umbrella from the stand opening the heavy front door and stepping out into the rain, opening the umbrella.

She followed the dog's noise to the east side of the house.

"Aedus! Darach! Finian!" she called the dogs names.

She heard two of them whimpering.

"Where are you, boys?" she called again.

She followed the whimpering and saw two of them in a frantic state. They were afraid.

"What is it?" she called to them. "Darach, what is it boy?"

Darach whimpered and moved his feet in a hectic and pacing manner.

She reached Darach and grabbed his collar to calm him down.

"What is it..." she stopped once she saw what both dogs were panicking over.

Lying just a few meters away from her was the youngest of the three dogs, Finian, or what was left of him that is. He lay on the wet ground looking almost completely melted.

The poor woman screamed at the sight as more lightning flashed across the sky.

_**~~~~Paris, France~~~~**_

Dr. Helen Magnus descended off the train at the Paris station.

She breathed in the fresh French air, and smiled slightly. The last time she has been here had been D-Day, in Carentan. It was amazing how much of this place had restored its way of life in such a short time.

Aside from a few spots here and there, France was what it always was, a relative culture center.

Paris was back to its bustling life like war had never touched it.

No wonder she had tracked him here. It was a perfect place to get lost in a crowd.

Fortunately she knew him better than that.

She hailed a cab and was quickly on her way to the one place she knew he'd be.

It was a beautiful morning, the sun was shining, the sky was blue, and Helen reveled in the fact that finally the war was over, sometimes she forgot it was. She watched the Parisian world whiz by her window with new eyes. It was the same Paris, as it always had been, yet it was different. She couldn't explain why.

The cab stopped in front of an old hotel and she got out and graciously paid her fare.

The hotel had an outdoor Veranda for its cafe. There were several guests seated in tables and chairs under the shade of the upper balcony, over looking the park and the Eiffel tower standing majestically in the distance. Pigeons pecked absently at their feet and no one really paid them any mind.

He would come to a place like this.

She scanned the morning diners as they enjoyed their breakfast. There were couples, old and young, business men discussing business together, housewives out with their girlfriends, but then she spotted him.

He sat in the back of the veranda all by himself, reading a newspaper and occasionally throwing his toast crusts to the flurry of birds on the road beside him. His biggest give away of course was the glass of deep red wine he was drinking despite it being 9 in the morning.

She smiled to herself. Some things never change.

She weaved between the tables of guests towards his table in the back.

She sat down across from him without saying a word and he didn't look up from his paper.

She stared at the half empty wine glass sitting on the table between them for a moment.

"Hello Nikola," she said finally and he peeked over the paper.

"Helen," he smiled at her and folded up the paper. "What a pleasant surprise. He stood up and grasped her hands, pulling her to standing and giving her a quick peck on the cheek, then sitting down again. "I won't do it," he said suddenly.

Helen blinked.

"Won't do what?" she asked, taken aback that he knew she wanted something.

"Whatever it is that you've come here to ask me to do, I won't do it, I'm on vacation," he said sternly.

"You're supposed to be in hiding," she grumbled.

"Well I got bored of that so now I'm on vacation and I won't let you ruin that for me with one of your blasted favors," he muttered adamantly. "I've paid my price, now I'm going to enjoy myself."

Helen rolled her eyes, he was always so stubborn.

"It's for a friend," she continued despite his denials.

"Not a friend of mine," he shook his head and opened the paper again.

"She's willing to pay you," Helen continued.

"I'm not broke," he chided.

"It's in Scotland..."

"Why the hell would I want to go there?"

"It's a meager security position, and it'll only be for a month, maybe two."

"I mean it's dry and humid, it would mess with my hair..."

"She really needs your help."

"For a meager security position? Your words not mine."

"She's single," Helen added.

Nikola put the paper down.

"Now we're getting somewhere. Is she single because she chooses to be or single because she's so frighteningly ugly..."

"Nikola," Helen rolled her eyes.

"Answer the question," he snipped at her.

"She is very attractive," Helen sighed.

"You see, you should've opened with that," Nikola teased.

"So will you do it?" asked Helen.

"Mmm...no, goodbye!" he lifted the paper up again.

Helen groaned. Why'd she think this was going to be easy, Nikola Tesla was never easy.

She took a moment to take him in. His hair was a bit more unruly then she was used to, his electricity work had always put it in a state of cowlick, but he had always been so diligently slicking it back, now it seemed he let it maintain its strange form. He wore a crisp clean white Oxford shirt with its top two buttons undone, and a cream colored vest that no doubt matched his pants. His jacket hung over the back of the chair, and strangely enough there was no tie in sight. He really was on vacation.

His hand rested on the table, just meters away from his wine glass. Her hand slipped across the table and gently grasped his hand. His head slowly peaked from behind the paper.

"Please Nikola, do this one favor for me," she pleaded.

"Why me? Why not get one of your lackeys to do it?" he grumbled.

"You know very well that we are establishing a new Sanctuary in America," Helen sighed.

"Right in that no name city of wherever," he muttered, looking from her to her hand still gripped in his.

"I wouldn't ask you unless I was sure you were the only one I trusted enough with this," she said earnestly.

He looked at her thoughtfully and then let out a sigh.

"What would I have to do?"

**~~~~Author's Notes~~~~**

Oddly enough this story came to me in a dream. It was lovely, so lovely in fact that a sighed myself happily awake, only o disappointedly realize that it was in fact a dream, and not an episode of Nikola Tesla being downright gorgeous. But I couldn't shake it and I began writing. This was back in August, I've now decided to publish my findings. Even though I was going to wait for Here We Meet Again to be complete...but what can I say, I'm impatient.

Thank you to Chartreuseian for beta'ing. Otherwise it would be full of strange and seemingly obvious grammar mistakes, but what can i say, iPhones suck when it comes to grammar.

Enjoy! This one is a bit different than my usual taste and you'll see how as we go along :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_**~~~~Perth, Scotland~~~~**_

It was raining, well, technically sprinkling, but it was enough moisture to dampen Nikola's spirits as he and Helen drove through the ancient town.

She, of course, made him drive.

To say he was grumpy was an understatement, he was an all out sour puss, complete with pout and snide remarks, aggravated further by Helen completely ignoring him.

"I love this old city, so much history in its stones, in its architecture..."

"In its people, I don't think I've seen anyone under the age of fifty for miles," he grumbled. "And they all drive like seniors!"

He honked the horn to coax the car ahead to move faster.

"Can't you just let go of your petty reasoning for being an old grump and just enjoy the culture around you."

"I was enjoying the culture around me in Paris, at least they spoke a language I can understand, not this barbaric tongue you call a Scottish accent."

"You're just grumpy because I ruined your vacation," Helen rolled her eyes.

"Damn right I am, and not only that but your mode of transportation to get me to this blasted land was appalling!"

"I needed to get you here as quick as possible, there was no time to take the first class train route," Helen sighed.

"Not even for a little bit, I could imagine us in a first class coach, sipping wine, my hand beneath your skirts...I can just see the way you would bite your lip trying to contain your sweet cries..."

"Nikola, look out!" Helen grasped the wheel and turned him out of the way of a man on a bike.

Nikola giggled as the car straightened out.

"We both know that's never going to happen," Helen glared at him, he did that on purpose.

"But a guy can dream," he chuckled.

"Well save it for one of your swims, for now please keep your eye to the road," she glowered, he was such a pest.

"Are we there yet?" he sighed.

"It's just a little ways out of town," she sighed.

"Perfect," he grumbled. "Why am I driving?"

"Cause you can," Helen sighed.

"And why aren't you wearing a tantalizingly low neckline to encourage me?" he asked with a cheeky grin.

"Because I don't have to, your fantasies will do plenty," she teased.

He looked at her.

"You know you might be right about that," he began intensely staring at her chest.

"Nikola! The road!" she barked and he turned back to it with a snicker.

"It doesn't matter how many times you do that, you're still driving," Helen said defiantly.

"Well, take the fun out of it!"

_**~~~~Later~~~~**_

Their car pulled up to the building and parked. Nikola was the first to step out, straightening his suit as he was prone to do.

He looked over to Helen.

"So this is McKinley Castle, huh?" he gave her a look. "Not much of a castle."

"Less ground to maintain, but it's technically a castle," she sighed.

"And I'm technically a criminal, but words are just words," he sighed.

"Knowing you, that's doubtful," she teased.

"You wound me." He grasped his heart jokingly.

"You'll get over it." She walked around the car towards the house.

"Who in their right mind would call this a castle, it's a stone shack," he grumbled.

"It's larger than a shack," Helen scoffed.

"And tourism must be slow," he added.

"Well it's not for show, Nikola, people live here," she sighed.

"Willingly?" he asked.

"Yes," she grumbled.

"I don't believe you," he said dismissively. "Why am I here again?"

"The woman who owns this castle is an old friend of mine, she and I worked together during the war, about a week ago she contacted me about an incident that happened here. During the night someone had come to the house and left a message on the east wall," Helen explained as they walked around the house to examine the wall.

"You brought me here because of some punk writing graffiti?" he gave her a look.

"With a form of acid. Dumped the rest of it one of the groundskeeper's dogs. Melted him," said Helen.

"Melted him?" Nikola muttered, his curiosity piqued. "Why not bring the detective to find out who this man is?"

"James doesn't travel as well as he used to, besides my friend claims they already know who this man is, he's been terrorizing them for months. This is the first time he's actually killed something, but she's afraid he'll escalate and she wants to protect her staff."

"And the police are conveniently not in service?" asked Nikola.

"He's not a man you can easily bring down," said Helen.

"Ah, he's a politician," Nikola joked.

"More like he's gargantuan, the police won't go near him," she sighed.

"So that's why you brought me." Nikola turned to her. "I'm the only person man enough to face this brute."

"Immortal vampire helps too," Helen teased.

"Don't deny it, Helen, you still have a fire burning for me," he gingerly grabbed her hips.

"Fueled by your ego," she scoffed.

"Is this just an excuse to get me alone with you at a quaint little B&B in the Scottish highlands, oh you dirty girl," Nikola smirked and leant in close to Helen but she brought up a hand and pushed his face away.

"Focus please, Nikola," she sighed.

He chuckled and rounded the corner of the house, stopping in his tracks.

"Oh my," he muttered.

The aged stone bore its message about two inches deep of melted rock.

"That's not just any old graffiti," he mumbled stepping up to it. "Acid you said."

"None that I've ever seen," she stepped up behind him. They both examined the wall together.

He sniffed.

"Smells like cinnamon," he looked at her quizzically.

"Judging by its way of degradation I'd say it's an acid comprised of completely organic material," Helen surmised.

"And potent too. This kind of stone is thick; not just any old acid can burn through weathered stone like this. These stones were made to stand the test of time...kind of like us," he looked up at her with a grin.

He lifted a hand to swipe at the engraved letters.

"Careful, I wouldn't be surprised if there are still remnants of the liquid on the stone," Helen warned.

"What's it going to do to me?" he shrugged, running his finger along the edge. He sniffed his hand. "I don't smell chemicals, and believe me, I know chemicals. At least, it's nothing you would find in your run of the mill chemistry set."

Helen nodded then her eyes widened as suddenly the flesh on Nikola's fingers began to eat away.

"Ow!" Nikola yelped. He hurriedly pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his hand with it. "Oh that smarts."

"I hate to say I told you so," Helen teased.

"Yah right," he grumbled. He threw away the currently melting kerchief and rubbed his hand which was completely healed over. "Well that is definitely quite the mystery. Sure you don't want to call ole Watson down here?"

"You will do just fine," sighed Helen.

Nikola stepped back and read the message on the wall. It was only two words.

"Fei Yin? What is that Chinese?" Nikola looked over at Helen. "What do you suppose it means?"

"It's more of a who than a what?" a voice interrupted the two of them.

Nikola turned around to see a beautiful blonde woman step up to them. She was tall and slender like Helen, with sparkling grey eyes, and golden hair, not unlike what Helen's used to be, except it was straight and pulled back in a tight ponytail.

"Fei Yin is a member of my staff, one of my young chamber maids we had managed to smuggle out of China during the war," the woman said, smiling at Helen. "Thank you for coming Helen."

"Laren, nice to see you," Helen hugged the woman, Nikola watched with a bemused smile. "Nikola I would like you to meet Laren Hayward."

"Hayward, how English," Nikola extended his hand to Laren.

"Donne let the surname fool yeh, I was born of the clan McKinley," she said accentuating the common Scottish drawl. "The English comes from my late husband."

Her accent was smooth and rich, and sounded more like a Londoner's accent than anything. It was amazing how she could switch the two so easily.

"Interesting, your late husband you say?" Nikola shook her hand and then released it.

"Died in the war," she sighed. "After that I returned to this castle to occupy myself."

"We heard," Helen interjected. "We're here to help."

"I know, and thank you Helen," Laren shook her friends hand.

"What can you tell us of this man?" asked Helen.

"McGinnis. Ralph McGinnis, a local man, a blacksmith by trade, he fell madly in love with my young chambermaid Fei Yin, a girl I had brought to live with me after the war ended. Ever since then he's been barbaric in his attempts to woo her. They started off as minor annoyances but now, with this, I fear for her safety, as well as the rest of my staff."

"What's the problem? Why don't you report this to the police?" Nikola asked.

"They won't do anything, they tried arresting him before but he broke his chains and nearly totaled the police car in his escape. He's massively strong and brutish," explained Laren. "Besides, I don't want to condemn him, I just want him to stop."

Nikola looked at her weirdly.

"That's why I brought Nikola," said Helen. "He may be the only one who can help you."

"Why not just use a couple of horse tranquilizers on him and be done with it?" suggested Nikola.

"Really you don't think we tried that already?" scoffed Laren. "He escaped before the drugs took effect and he came back twice as angry."

"Nikola can help," Helen said confidently.

"Really?" Laren looked over at him skeptically.

"Oh, you don't think I can," Nikola recognized immediately that he was being insulted. He stood up straighter and puffed out his chest in indignation.

"I don't mean to be rude, but you look a tad on the scrawny side, don't you think?" she eyed him up and down.

"I'm lean, doesn't mean I'm not strong," he defended.

"Yes well Ralph has the relative strength of a pack of gorillas, it would take more than wiry muscle and an ego to scare him off, despite how gargantuan yours is," Laren said sharply.

"Well if you don't want my help then I'll happily return to my vacation, come on Helen!" Nikola grumbled and turned to head back to the car.

"I'm sorry, he's a brat," apologized Helen. "Nikola!"

"Let her suffer!" Nikola barked.

"Nikola, please, just stay for a little while," Helen pleaded following him.

"I'm going back to France, where I should've stayed. I knew, I just knew that any favor you'd ask of me would be trouble. You want me to do security for that...that...woman! No, I won't do it. Call your annoying friend with the, with the wings and tell him to take me home!"

Helen rolled her eyes.

"You're going to walk away because some mortal woman bruised your ego?" she teased.

"Well, frankly...yes," he stopped and put his hands on his hips.

"Don't do this for her," said Helen. "Do it for me, and my undying gratitude."

"You keep saying that but at this point your undying gratitude has a short lifespan," he grumbled.

Helen wrapped her arms around him.

"Please, do this one last thing for me. Just meet Fei Yin, and you can decide then whether you will stay or not," she grinned inwardly as Nikola relaxed into her embrace, he could never say no to her like this.

He groaned.

"Fine, I'll meet the girl," he rested his head on her shoulder. "But if I don't like her I'm going back to France."

Helen smirked.

"As is your right to, now come on, throw on that charming smile of yours," Helen released him and began dragging him back to the castle.

"Do I have to?" he whined.

Once they were inside he realized the inside of the castle was much more impressive than the outside, with beautiful stone arches, and long glass windows. Portraits and the family tartan and crest decorated the walls up the stone and wood staircase leading to the top level. The kitchen and staff bedrooms and bathing facility were all down stairs, while the master and guest bedrooms were upstairs. The main level held a beautiful dining hall, and a comfortable parlor, complete with an old stone fire place, and a rather remarkable collection of taxidermy animals.

He looked at all the animal heads lining the wall as he and Helen sat and waited in the parlor.

"Still trying to convince me this is not a quaint B&B, and you didn't just cook this up do you could get me alone in the Scottish countryside with no one around for miles to hear you scream?" teased Nikola.

Helen rolled her eyes.

"Not in a million years," Helen mumbled.

"I can wait," he teased.

Laren entered the room with the young maid. She looked to be about 18, maybe twenty at most. She was shy and kept her head and eyes down and her arms rested in front of her with her hands connected.

She was beautiful, noted Nikola. Very exotic, and delicate, like a lily. Probably just as sweet as she was shy.

"This is Fei Yin," said Laren, guiding the girl protectively in to the room.

"Hello," she said shyly. Her eyes darted up momentarily and met Helen, but went immediately back down when she saw Nikola.

"Can you tell us how you first met, uh, Ralph McGinnis?" asked Helen.

"Lady Hayward asked me to take one of the horses into town to have his shoe fixed," started the girl.

"Lady, that's a bit of an overstatement," scoffed Nikola, and Helen swatted him. "Ow."

"Go on," Helen ignored Nikola.

"When I was there I met Ralph, he seemed very sweet at first, but when he asked me to dinner I said I could not. He could not take no for an answer. He began sending me flowers and following me when I would go out to the markets for Ms. Hayward, then he began following me home, and caused trouble at the castle, and he won't seem to stop unless I go with him, but he frightens me," she stopped and bit her lip, holding back her tears.

Laren put a protective arm around her.

"He's been terrorizing the poor girl for weeks now, he's obsessed and I'm afraid for her safety," Laren said. "If you can help her, as Helen claims, please do."

Nikola looked at the young girl and back at Laren then to Helen.

She knew the noble side of him couldn't let someone as sweet and innocent as Fei Yin continue being terrorized by such a brute as Ralph McGinnis.

"Fine," he sighed. "I'll help."

Helen smile warmly at Laren and Laren gave him a thankful nod before sending the girl away.

"All I need is basic security and a bodyguard for Fei Yin, can you do that?" Laren asked, turning to Nikola.

"Yes," Nikola said defiantly, he still didn't like her.

"Good, I will pay you 75 pounds a week, you can stay in one of the upper guest bedrooms, and you are treated to anything in the kitchen, though the wine cellar is completely off limits."

Nikola looked at Helen.

"You told her, didn't you?" he accused.

Helen shrugged innocently.

"I accept your terms, as long as I'm allowed one day off and at least one glass of wine per meal," negotiated Nikola.

"You'll be allowed one glass at supper, and two on a Sunday. I'll give you your day off as long as you stay on the premises in case anything should happen," Laren stated firmly.

"Three glasses on Sunday," Nikola demanded.

"Two and a half," said Laren.

"Done," they shook hands.

"I'll have you know sir that I think you're a gargantuan waste of time, but I'm trusting Helen's judgment and credibility in this matter," Laren looked him dead on in the eye and squeezed his hand tightly.

"And I'll have you know that I think you're a witch sucking the youth out of young babes in their sleep and that I despise you beyond all reason," Nikola growled back, squeezing her hand just as firmly.

"Perfect, we're agreed on something then," Laren squeezed his hand even tighter.

Helen just sat there amusedly and watched the showdown happen before her.

"I'll have you know that I am quite enjoying the pair of you already," teased Helen.

It diffused the situation and both Laren and Nikola released each other's hands before sniffing at each other in disdain.

"Thank you Helen for all your help, I just hope it is worth it," said Laren, giving Helen an affectionate and friendly kiss to the cheek.

"Me too," Helen smiled at her friend.

"Well I'm off, enjoy your stay Nikola," Helen quickly nodded to him then darted to the door.

"What?" Nikola's face dropped.

"I took the liberty of instructing one of the staff to claim your luggage," Helen walked quickly to her car.

"You're leaving me?" he darted out after her.

"Well, yes and no," she stated.

"What does that mean?" he cried.

"Well yes I'm leaving, but I'll be here with you in spirit," Helen quickly climbed into the car and shut the door, he collapsed to the window.

"No, Helen! You cannot do this to me!" he cried, clawing at the glass.

"I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time," Helen started the car.

"Helen, open this door," Nikola threatened.

"Cheers, darling, miss you, love you," she stated quickly.

"Helen you are not leaving me in the middle of Scottish nowhere on a limited wine supply! Helen! Open the door!"

"I'll be back in a few months, bye," she stepped on the acceleration and began driving off.

"Helen! Helen!" Nikola called. "Come back here you, you, agh!"

He kicked the dirt angrily as she drove off in the distance.

"HELEN!" he screamed. "You can't leave me with that bitch!"

_**~~~~Author's Notes~~~~**_

Oop! Helen's leaving...say what? Don't worry...she may or may not...return...sometime...in the future...did i just lead you into a non-teslen fanfic... (prepares to duck thrown shoes)


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Laren, Fei Yin, and Nikola sat in the dining hall that evening.

It was tensely quiet between all three of them as they ate the thick stew in their bowls. Nikola had his one glass of wine which he had been savoring, only taking small sips of it here and there.

Laren sat at the head of the table and Nikola defiantly sat at the other end, at the foot. Fei Yin sat quietly in between them.

"Could you please pass the bread basket, Fei Yin," Laren muttered.

Fei Yin nodded and handed the basket to her.

"Nikola, would you like any bread?" she asked.

"Fine...yes please," he muttered and was soon walloped in the head by a bun.

He grumbled.

"Very mature," he held up the bun that had fallen to his lap.

"So was you screaming after Helen like an insolent child," teased Laren.

"I wasn't screaming," he crossed his legs and maneuvered himself so he wouldn't have to look at her.

He took a bite of the bun and grumbled.

"Want some butter?" she asked.

"No, no! I'm fine," he said waving the bun defensively.

"Just asking," Laren sighed, and continued eating.

"Banshee from hell," he muttered.

"Pardon?" said Laren.

"Nothing," said Nikola, faking a smile.

"So Fei Yin, do you have any duties to attend to after supper?" asked Laren.

"Yes ma'am," said the girl shyly.

"All I'm saying is you might want to apprise Mr. uh," Laren looked up at Nikola.

"Tesla," he muttered.

"Right," Laren noted sarcastically. "You might want to notify Mr. Tesla of your schedule so he can better do his job."

Nikola felt the remark hit him like a stone.

"I'm very good at my job, thank you," grumbled Nikola.

"I'm sure you are," muttered Laren.

"I, I can give you a list..." interjected Fei Yin.

"If it eases your lady's mind, and I use lady only as a formality," he stated at Laren.

"It must hurt you a little bit," teased Laren.

"Surprisingly no," he gave her a sardonic grin.

"Excuse me, while I fetch dessert, you won't try to run away while I'm gone, will you?" asked Laren.

"Oh no, I'm staying, if only to make you miserable," he leaned back in his chair defiantly.

"That shouldn't be too difficult, you already have a miserable personality as it is," Laren stood up and excused herself with a kind but determined smile.

Fei Yin kept her head down.

"So, Fei Yin, do you have any hobbies?" Nikola asked casually.

The girl squeaked slightly, her eyes darting up to meet his momentarily then shooting back down and shaking her head.

"Well that was a refreshing bit of candor?" Nikola sighed and picked up his glass of wine and took a generous sip of it.

_**~~~~Later~~~~**_

Nikola walked behind Fei Yin as she struggled to carry a heavy bucket full of water to the stable.

Nikola contemplated helping her carry it then thought against it because she seemed to have a handle on it.

Then she stumbled slightly.

"Here, let me give you a hand," he reached for the bucket.

"No, no! It's okay," Fei Yin put herself between him and the bucket.

"It's no problem, I don't want you to dislocate a shoulder or something," he held out his hand.

"It's my duty," she defended.

"And you can complete it with a lot more ease if you let me help you, just with this," Nikola offered.

She contemplated his offer and then nodded handing him the bucket.

"And you don't have to be so formal around me, I'm not a lord or anything. I'm here to protect you that's all," he said with a soft smile. "I don't bite, I promise."

She finally met his eyes for more than a moment and smiled weakly.

"Thank you, sir," she said.

"Nikola, please," he said gently.

"Nikola...sir," she added nervously.

"You know, you speak very good English," he said following behind her.

"Ms. Hayward has been teaching me," answered Fei Yin.

"You speak better English than some englishmen I know," he chuckled.

"Thank you, sir," she blushed slightly.

"Nikola," he reiterated. "So, why are you here, Fei Yin. Why did you leave China to come work for...that woman here?"

"Both of my parents were killed in a protest," Fei Yin said sadly. "If I had stayed they would've put me in a work camp."

"I guess that's a good reason," Nikola muttered. "And do you like working here?"

"Ms. Hayward pays me," said Fei Yin. "I plan to save so that I may get an education."

"Really? And Miss Chain-and-tackle will let you do that?"

"She encourages it, that's why she has taught me English and other studies, every weekend she tutors me in math and science, reading and writing, and literature. In a few years I will have learnt enough to go to a woman's college in Edinburgh. Ms. Hayward has arranged it."

"Hmm," Nikola sighed.

"You don't like Ms. Hayward do you?" asked Fei Yin.

"It's not that I don't like her, it's just it seems we rub each other the wrong way, and she doesn't let me drink wine..."

"So you don't like her?" Fei Yin giggled slightly.

"Fine, I don't, but she doesn't seem to like me either so it's all good," Nikola sighed.

"If you don't mind me saying so, sir...uh, Nikola, I don't think she hates you as much as you think," she gave him a small smile and Nikola looked at her a little curious as to what she meant.

Before he could ask her for clarification she had reached the stable and entered, taking the bucket from him and pouring its contents into the horse trough.

"I thought she said you were a chambermaid," Nikola noted.

"I am," she said. "There are two young men that come from the town and take care of the horses usually, but they've gone out of town for the week so all of us have taken shifts watering them and feeding them. Ms. Hayward usually tends to their grooming," Fei Yin explained as she lifted the lid off a large barrel and picked up a pail with a scoop in it.

She took a scoopful of oats out of the barrel and placed it inside a feed bin in the horses stable. Patting the horses nose gently as she did so.

"What's his name?" asked Nikola.

"The brown mare is named Edalene," said Fei Yin. "But this one is called Faramund."

"Gaelic...I've noticed that a lot, this place. A lot of Gaelic names," Nikola sighed.

"Ms. Hayward and her mother shared a love for Gaelic history and Gaelic names," said Fei Yin. "That's what she told me."

"Ah, I see," he nodded. "You all done here?" he asked.

She nodded and set everything back in its place before following him out.

The crack of lightning even took him by surprise.

"Oh great, it's raining," he sighed. "Well that's just perfect."

He removed his jacket and held it over his head.

"Well, no use getting yourself soaked, come here, we'll make a quick dash back to the castle."

Fei Yin nodded and stepped under the protection of Nikola's coat.

"Alright when I count to 3 we'll start running. Ready? One, two, three...go!"

They began dashing towards the house. Nikola heard something distinctly not rain like and he looked around for its source.

There it was again. Fwip!

Fwip!

It couldn't be, no, could it?

He looked up.

"Oh hell!" groaned Nikola. "Fei Yin!"

She was running ahead of him but stopped when he called her name.

"Fei Yin, I..." he saw a flash of orangey-red in his peripheral vision. "Get down!"

He tackled her out of the way as a flaming arrow stuck into the ground where she'd been standing.

"Okay, no one told me there would be flaming arrows!" he barked.

In a moment he watched the arrow melt away like it had been made of clay.

Fei Yin watched, terrified.

Nikola sat over her protectively.

"How'd he get here so fast?" muttered Nikola.

"It's him!" cried Fei Yin.

Another flaming arrow landed closer to them than Nikola would've liked.

"Go! Get inside the house!" Nikola picked Fei Yin up and began pushing her towards the house, keeping his body between her and the flaming projectiles.

He got her inside safely and pushed her through the door, staying out side and scanning the rain swept countryside for big bad Robin Hood.

The man was already gone by the looks of it.

He scanned across once more then headed inside. Drenched from head to toe and covered in mud.

"What happened?" Laren came running down the stairs.

"Mr. Gargantuan made another attempt to woo the fair maiden...so to speak," sighed Nikola.

"It was Ralph, he tried to kill me," cried Fei Yin.

"Flaming arrows, great way to win a woman's heart," Nikola muttered sarcastically.

"You're shivering. Let's go to the kitchen and fix you up something hot to drink," Laren ignored Nikola.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking," Nikola rolled his eyes.

"Take off your shoes, your making a puddle," said Laren, escorting Fei Yin to the kitchen.

Nikola grumbled but removed his soaked shoes anyway, not that his socks were much dryer. He followed the two of them to the kitchen. He figured maybe he'd get a warm drink out of it.

"I don't understand why he keeps pursuing me," Fei Yin let a small sob loose. "I only ever was kind to him when we spoke. I never meant to make him think that...oh god!"

Laren draped an arm around her.

Nikola took a tea towel and used it to wipe his face and hair.

"It wasn't anything you did Fei Yin, it's him, something is wrong with him that's telling him that he's in love with you and he has to have you. But we won't let him do that, Fei Yin, I stake my life on it," Laren said comfortingly.

"Mr. Tesla...Nikola...saved me," she stepped out of Laren's embrace and went up to Nikola. "Those arrows were aimed right for me and he put himself in front of their path...thank you!"

She wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. Nikola tensed, his aversion to being touched kicking in a little bit. He patted her back awkwardly.

"Uh, you're welcome," he stuttered.

She finally released him.

"Without you I'd be dead," she said again.

"Well, I'm your bodyguard, I won't let this fellow lay a finger or a flaming arrow on you," Nikola gave her a small smile and she returned it.

"Get some rest, my dear girl, he won't be bothering you for the rest of the night," said Laren. "Go dry off."

Fei Yin nodded and left the room as soon as she was gone Laren looked over at Nikola.

Nikola grinned triumphantly.

"Congratulations, you're not as completely useless as we once thought," she said to him, the snark returning just as strongly as before.

"You're paying me to keep her safe, I kept her safe, didn't I?" he defended.

"You're a good bodyguard, I'll give you that, but what are you going to do when you are standing shoulder to shoulder with him defending her life," she stood up in front of him, standing face to face with him.

"I can hold my own in a fight, even against a big brute like Ralph McGinnis. Don't worry. I'm worth every penny and then some," Nikola said defiantly.

"You better be," she growled.

They were standing pretty much nose to nose at this point.

"I will," he said even more determined.

In a split second they went from glaring at each other to kissing each other. Neither of them really knew what happened or who initiated it but both backed off as if they had kissed a snake.

Laren brought a hand back and slapped Nikola hard.

"How dare you!" she cried.

"That was not me! I'm pretty sure that was all you!" Nikola held his cheek.

"It was not me. Why would I want to kiss you?" she growled.

"Maybe you're attracted to my manly aura," Nikola teased and she scoffed.

"Please, I am more attracted to the foot fungus of a diseased leper than I am to you," Laren growled.

"Obviously not, because I would rather stick my lips to a hot poker and kiss a rhino's ass than you," Nikola retaliated.

"You are...agh!" Laren turned on her heel and left the kitchen.

"What? Too hot for you to handle?" Nikola teased and followed her

"Horrible!" Laren turned to him. "Absolutely horrible!"

"You barely knew me for three minutes before you started treating me like crap, what do you know?" yelled Nikola.

"That's just how horrible you are," Laren growled.

"What because I'm smarter than you? Are you intimidated by my intelligence or the fact that I didn't drool over the sight of you the moment we met?" he challenged.

"Please, you are so full of it," she rolled her eyes. "You are here for Fei Yin. Once that is done through I will happily see you on your way."

"Fine then, let's hope matters resolve themselves quickly," Nikola stared her down and then pushed past her. "Where is my room?"

Laren turned and smiled sardonically at him.

"I'll show you," she sighed.

"Can we at least try to be civil, it's obvious we don't like each other, but I would like to get out of these wet clothes and into something dry before the night is out," he sighed.

"Fine," Laren relented.

She walked past him and up the staircase.

"There is only one bathroom up here, my room is the master, I've put you in the guest room at the far end, with any luck we can spend most of your time here out of each other's company," she grumbled.

"Fine with me," he agreed.

"I claim the bathroom from 7 to 8 in the morning, every morning," she said sternly.

"Uh huh," Nikola followed her from the staircase down the hall to his bedroom.

"You should be quite comfortable in here," she opened the door.

"What? Did you lace the sheets with cyanide?" he glared at her.

"I would be lying if I said the thought hadn't crossed my mind," she teased back.

"Is this the end of the tour or do I have to suffer any more time with you?" asked Nikola.

"This is the end," Laren glowered at him. "I shall bid you goodnight and hope you sleep like a naked man on a bed of hot coals."

"And I hope you wake up with a Charlie horse," Nikola retaliated.

"Goodnight," she forced a smile.

"Goodnight," Nikola waved, putting on just as fake a smile as she was.

She shut the door behind her and marched away.

God, that woman!

He shook it off. No woman had ever infuriated him this much and this quickly. She was detestable.

He decided not to think about it and went to one of his suitcases. He peeled off his wet layers and mopped up his wet skin with one of his less nicer shirts. He was changed into a light, clean oxford shirt and a comfortable pair of trousers in mere moments.

He looked outside the window and saw that the rain had stopped.

He ran his makeshift towel through his hair a few times before crawling into the bed. Not like he needed to sleep but he didn't bring any reading materials with him, so he was going to try.

He flicked the electric lamp off and snuggled in comfortably.

His mind went back to that kiss in the kitchen. He smirked slightly. That woman...she totally kissed him first.

Laren reached her room and shut the door behind her. She let out a frustrated huff as she did so.

That man!

She'd never, in all her life met a man so arrogant, so childish, so… so… so whatever he was. It was like everything he did made her want to shoot him. Every word drove her crazy. And then that kiss. Where had that come from?

She shook her head. It was an accident, he must've slipped on his wet feet, or maybe something bumped her. It was nothing. She felt nothing but contempt for this man and his stupid boyish...kinda cute...but otherwise annoying grin.

She shook it off. It was only going to be for a couple of months. Maybe less if all went well, then she would never have to see him or that smile ever again.

She pulled the knot out of her hair and let her blonde hair hang loosely around her shoulders.

She changed into her nightgown and sighed as she brushed her hair.

Fei Yin had definitely taken a liking to him...it didn't change anything that she felt for him, but maybe...no, he was obnoxious and brash, and he drove her crazy and that's all.

She set the brush down and looked over to the picture resting on her nightstand. It was of her late husband in his military uniform. George. He had been her best friend and eternal compatriot, until a bullet fired off a German machine gun had picked him off.

Her heart twisted slightly. It was already three years. It angered her that he had managed to survive so long only to die just before the fighting stopped.

She cuddled down beneath her covers still looking at the picture.

She pressed two fingers to her lips and kissed them, placing the kiss on to the frozen face in the picture before shutting off the light and throwing the covers over her.

How she was going to last with this Mr. Tesla around she had no idea.

She smirked slightly.

Wasn't he in for a surprise tomorrow morning?

_**~~~~Author's Notes~~~~**_

_****_Hey you crazy Teslen fans! Hi! Still reading i hope. Christmas is upon us which means hopefully enough time for me to write a few chapters for you. Not just for this fic, but for Troublemakers and Here We Meet Again as well...hopefully.

Anyways, I hope this gives you a few chuckles.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Nikola slept very soundly and quite happily. He muttered incoherently and his lips curled into a slight smile.

He was dreaming, a rare occurrence for him. He was dreaming of a certain two blondes and him in a certainly compromising position.

He let out a small chuckle sound as he snuggled deeper into the pillows.

It was just past 7 am and the sun was just rising to its full height.

Two small feet walked up the length of the bed, making its way up to Nikola slowly but surely.

It stared him straight in the face before puffing up its chest and opening its beak.

"Cock-a-doodle doo!" it cried and Nikola jolted awake, coming face to face with the largest rooster he'd ever seen in his life.

"Agh!" he cried.

"Bah-kah!" the rooster seemed to cry in response.

It pecked his face defensively.

"Oh you!" he lunged to grab the massive chicken.

The rooster jumped off the bed and evaded his grasp.

"Get back here!" cried Nikola.

"Bawk!" shrieked the rooster.

Nikola's feet were entangled in the sheets and he fell hard on the stone floor. The rooster stood above him and pecked him again.

"Ow! Gah!" he glared at it.

It looked at him inquisitively.

In a moment of frustration Nikola vamped out and snarled at it.

The rooster shrieked and scrambled out through the open window and away from him.

Nikola groaned and rested his head against the cold stone.

She did this on purpose.

Laren happily hummed to herself in the shower, having heard the commotion going on at the other end of the hall.

She ran her head under the water, feeling quite proud of herself, if a little juvenile.

Nikola managed to dress himself and straighten himself out before stepping out of his room, being sure to close the window securely before leaving, and walking down the hall.

He heard the telltale sound of water shooting out of a shower head and paused. A curious and evil grin crossed his face. He leaned close to the door, hearing her hum a tune.

Perfect.

He extended a talon and picked the lock on the door. Carefully and quietly entering the bathroom. He walked through the thick layer of steam and eyed the layout of the room. Modern plumbing. Probably one water line between the two of them. He grinned. He sat himself down on the toilet, crossed his legs and pulled out the newspaper from the reading rack.

She stopped humming.

"Who's there?" she called out.

Nikola didn't answer her but leaned against the back of the toilet leisurely.

"It's occupied!" Laren said again.

Again, Nikola made no reply, just opened the paper and began reading.

Laren pulled back the shower curtain and peeked out.

"Tesla," she growled, her eyes falling on him instantly. "Get out."

"That was a lovely surprise you left me this morning," said Nikola, not looking up from the paper.

"Ah, you met Murray," she smirked.

"Yes, him and I had a great bonding moment," said Nikola.

"I heard," she couldn't help but chuckle. "But this is my time in the bathroom. Out."

Nikola stood up and smiled at her.

"I'm done here anyway," he said calmly.

"But you didn't go," she remarked, then suddenly her eyes widened as she saw his finger gingerly resting on the toilet handle.

"I know," he smirked even more evilly.

"No, Tesla, don't you dare!" she threatened.

"Payback Laren. Toodles," he waved and pressed down on the handle. Walking out of the bathroom as she shrieked.

He snickered and sauntered down the stairs. She got him good but he got her back even better.

"I heard screaming, is everything all right?" one of the maids came running up to Nikola.

"Screaming? I have no idea what you're talking about. You must be hearing things," Nikola batted his eyes innocently.

Suddenly the bathroom door from the upstairs floor shot open and a drenched and towel wrapped Laren emerged and glared at Nikola from the landing.

"This is so not over Tesla!" she cried.

"On the contrary lassie," he mocked her Scottish decent then switched back to his normal accent. "This has only just begun."

He grinned and then whistled happily as he sauntered away.

He won this round.

_**~~~~Later~~~~**_

Nikola escorted Fei Yin into town that afternoon. There was no car at the castle so they were forced to walk but they made it to the markets in quick time. Fei Yin had a list of stuff she needed to get for the castle.

They started off in the farmers market looking at their selection of produce for the cook. Nikola was already holding two full bags of groceries.

"So, this McGinnis fellow. He fell for you in one fell swoop did he?" asked Nikola.

Fei Yin shook her head and blushed slightly.

"I visited him three times before he asked me to dinner, after I refused he started running into me at the market where he'd ask again. First it was with flowers and little trinkets, then when I kept refusing him he began threatening," Fei Yin said nervously.

"Why not just go out with him. I mean you couldn't have known he'd be like this at the start, could you?" asked Nikola.

"He was sweet, but..."

"But what?"

"I'm already in love with someone else," she said shyly.

"It's not me is it?" Nikola joked.

Fei Yin looked at him absolutely horrified.

"I was kidding, please, stop looking at me like that before you permanently damage my ego," he sighed.

"No, it's nothing," she shook her head. "He barely even knows I exist."

"I find that hard to imagine," Nikola smiled at her. "You are a very sweet and pretty girl, he'd be a fool not to notice at least partially."

"I'm not so sure about that," she shook her head. "Have you ever been in love with something you knew you could never have."

Nikola's mind immediately flashed to a certain woman that had toyed with his heart for almost a century.

"Yes, believe it or not," he said sadly.

"What do you do?" she asked.

"Well, you can't let fear stop you from pursuing what you want, and if what you want is truly unattainable, you have to let it go, or it'll consume you," Nikola answered, knowing it was advice he probably should take himself. "You aren't doing yourself any favors by being helplessly in love with a man who doesn't even know you exist."

Fei Yin took his words in carefully.

"So, I should make my feelings known?" she asked.

"Unless he's married, or something like that, yah." Nikola nodded.

"What do I say?" she asked.

"Well don't go all out and say I love you, get to know him, talk with him, I don't know make up plausible excuses to be around him, maybe he likes you just as well, you never know, but wishing and praying only does so much," Nikola sighed. Like he was the expert on finding true love.

"I don't know if I could..." Fei Yin stopped mid-sentence and averted her gaze down.

"What? What is it?" asked Nikola, noticing the sudden change in her demeanor.

"Ralph...he's watching us," she mumbled.

Nikola looked up.

"Where? Where is he Fei Yin?" Nikola stood protectively in front of her.

He saw someone dart into an alleyway.

"We should keep moving," said Fei Yin.

Nikola grasped her arm gently.

"No, we should go...back to the castle," Nikola definitely felt the hair at the back of his neck tingle with alarm.

"But Ms. Hayward..." protested Fei Yin.

"I'll deal with Ms. Hayward. My job here is to make sure no harm comes to you and I'm going to do it, and right now I don't think we should be here out in the open, she can send another maid out for the rest," he led her out of the market cautiously. Making sure he was not following them.

"Is there a less common route back to the castle that he might not know of?" asked Nikola.

"Uh, yes, there is a path...by the river," said Fei Yin.

"All right, we'll take that route, lead the way," Nikola gestured keeping her in arms reach ahead of him as they walked out of the city.

_**~~~~That Evening~~~~**_

The sun was fading by the time Nikola and Fei Yin got back to McKinley Castle.

The secondary route back turned out to be a lot longer and indirect than the normal one.

To say Nikola was grumpy was an understatement. He was downright irritable, but he was careful not to direct his foul mood towards Fei Yin.

He knew exactly who he wanted to direct his anger at.

Laren ran down the stairs the moment they entered through the front door.

"Where have you been?" she cried, running straight to Fei Yin.

"Ralph was there...following us in the market," said Fei Yin.

"Did he?" Laren checked Fei Yin for injuries.

"We're fine, it seems he was just spying," explained Nikola. "I recommend that Fei Yin's duties be limited to around the castle."

Laren nodded.

"I agree," she patted Fei Yin on the back. "Go to the kitchen, you must be starved. You can drop of the purchases there."

Laren turned to Nikola with a sharp eye as soon as Fei Yin curtly left.

"What took you so long?" she growled.

"For Fei Yin's safety I recommended we take an alternate route home, it took a little longer than we both thought, I'm sorry, I was thinking of her before you," he snipped at her.

"I'm sorry, you're right I was just worried that's all," Laren relented.

"I'm touched, now I have something to ask of you," he stepped up to her, eye to eye.

She steeled herself, ready for the flurry on insults.

"What is it?" she said sharply.

"Do you have a phone I could use?" he asked just as sharply. The question took her by surprise.

"In the upstairs corridor," she pointed upwards.

"Thank you," he spat and walked past her and up the stairs.

Laren shrugged. That was odd, she was expecting a lecture or at the very least a slurry of complaints, not him to ask for the telephone.

She shrugged again and headed to the kitchen.

_**~~~~Elsewhere~~~~**_

"Hello," the familiar voice came over the line.

"Are you some kind of harpy sent from hell to torture me?" Nikola whispered harshly into the phone.

"Excuse me?" said the voice. "Nikola is that you?"

"Of course it's me, trapped in the hell you left me in, Helen!" he barked, somehow managing to keep his voice down.

"It can't possibly be that bad," she sighed.

"Yeah it can. I've been here barely 48 hours and already I've been shot at with flaming arrows, chased in the rain, attacked by super chicken, and I think my soul is slowly being sucked dry by the Scottish banshee!" he whimpered. "Seriously, I think my hair is turning grey because of her."

"Super chicken?"

"Yes, super chicken, like what the hell is she feeding them they are the size of bear cubs," he whined.

"It sound like you're having fun," teased Helen.

"Well I'm not! This is the last, and I mean the very last time I do any favors for you, you hear me?" he growled.

"It's only a few months, you'll survive," Helen sighed. "Look Nikola, I'd love to stay and chat but I'm a little busy at the moment...I'll see you in a month or so, have fun."

"No Helen, don't you dare hang up on me, Helen don't you...no Helen. You make me miserable you calculating manipulative English bit-"

Click.

"Damn!" Nikola cried and hung up the phone. "I hate her, I hate them both, I hate them all," he grumbled as he headed to the bathroom and decided to have a long soak and at least pretend he was somewhere else.

He used all of Laren's shampoo to make bubbles. Snickering to himself as he poured all but a tiny squirt into the tub.

He lowered himself into the tub and felt instantly cleaner and relaxed.

He closed his eyes then heard the sound of a handle being turned. He opened his eyes just in time to see Laren enter.

She stopped and smiled at him.

"Thought you might want a towel," she held up the neatly folded towel up for him to see.

"Why thank you," he smiled, not intimidated at all by her being there, he had nothing to hide or be ashamed of.

"You know that was a very clever trick you pulled this morning," she sat on the edge of the tub. "I've been thinking all day about how to counter it."

"Well, I am a genius,"Nikola said smugly.

"Sure you are," she said condescendingly.

He frowned at her.

"But it looks like fortune is on my side," she held up a small bottle of blue food coloring.

Nikola looked at it skeptically.

"That will stain the tub," he warned.

"And anything in the tub," she clarified. "It's easier to scrub dye off of porcelain than it is on skin."

She dumped a healthy amount into the end of the tub near Nikola's feet and he instantly folded his legs to keep his feet from being stained.

"Oh ho ho, you like playing with fire don't you, Ms. Hayward?" he chuckled.

"Only because I know I can win," she grinned. She stood up and placed a hand on his head, ruffling his hair slightly before pushing him down. The slickness of the porcelain had him easily squeaking all the way into the water and flailing. She giggled and left before he could get a good enough grip to pull himself up.

He got out of the tub. Grabbing the towel and wrapping it around his waist. He had blue streaks from his waist all the way down to his feet.

He growled slightly. He wouldn't lose his cool, it wasn't permanent.

He looked down to where he had neatly folded his clothes but they were gone.

He realized that Laren must've taken them.

He ran out of the bathroom. He heard her laugh from downstairs.

"Better hurry, Nikola, dinner's almost ready," she singsonged.

He growled again and headed to his room. He'd just have to change.

He reached his room and was shocked to see that both his suitcases were gone, leaving him in only the towel she had provided. God knows what booby traps she had laid in there.

He removed the towel and shook it. Nothing came out. He sniffed it, there was no strange or funky smell.

He stared at it closely, there were no bugs or anything unpleasant in it.

It was just a normal towel.

He tossed it aside. Too risky.

"Tesla! Dinner!" called Laren.

He shrugged.

Well, if he must, he must.

Laren sat at the dinner table feeling quite smug of herself. She had won this round.

Fei Yin sat beside her patiently.

Suddenly they heard a slight shriek coming from outside the hall.

"Mr. Tesla! What the hell are you doing?" cried the head maid.

Laren chuckled.

Fei Yin looked confused.

"Carry on," Nikola's voice said cheerily.

This deflated Laren a little bit. He sounded way too smug for all that she'd put him through.

"You can't go to dinner like that!" cried the maid.

"But I've been called," he said innocently.

He opened the door.

Fei Yin squeaked and averted her gaze away and covered her eyes.

Laren sat looking slightly mortified.

There he was, Nikola Tesla, stark raving naked.

Laren brought her hand up to cover her blush.

"Oh dear," she tried to look away.

"Sorry for the wait, I just didn't know what to wear," Nikola shrugged innocently and strutted towards the table. "What's cooking?"

"I left you a towel for a reason," Laren said trying to glare at him but she just couldn't take him seriously in his current state.

"Couldn't take any chances, less you laced it with itching powder or something," he pulled out his chair and promptly sat down.

"Damn, that would've been good," Laren smirked at him. "The blue really looks good on you."

"Matches my eyes," he grinned sardonically back.

Fei Yin coughed awkwardly.

"Excuse me, Ms. Hayward, may I be excused?" she asked still keeping her gaze blocked from Nikola.

"Yes, you may," Laren again tried not to laugh.

Fei Yin quickly got up, her eyes darting up for just a second before she squeaked and ran out of the room.

"You know, you probably traumatized her," Laren smirked.

"You confiscate my clothes this is what you get?" he gestured to himself. "You mistook me for a modest man."

"I at least hoped you'd have the modesty to wrap something around your..."

"Impressive isn't it...they forgot my wine," he muttered.

"Oh let me," Laren quickly tried to get up.

"Oh no, I'll get it," he stood up and stretched and strutted to the kitchen.

Laren covered her face again.

He got to the door.

"Ooh a penny," he bent over to retrieve it.

"Oh god, your clothes are in the parlor under the couch, just put something on!" she cried.

"Thank you, and if you don't mind, red wine, full glass, chop chop!" he clapped his hands and strode out of the dining hall to retrieve his suitcases.

Laren groaned and rubbed her eyes slightly. That was partially her fault.

Nikola returned fully dressed in one of his suits with Fei Yin travelling behind him.

"Don't worry I apologized for the display," he said as he went back to his seat.

"I'm sorry too, Fei Yin, you didn't need to see that. No one needed to see that," Laren looked at him sharply.

"But don't tell me you didn't enjoy it...not you Fei Yin," he smiled cheekily back at Laren.

"Now, if we still have our appetites, can we eat?" Laren changed the subject.

They all nodded and dinner went on pretty pleasantly after that.

_**~~~~Later~~~~**_

Nikola ascended the stairs walking side by side with Laren.

They walked silently.

Nikola smirked slightly.

This evening, aside from the small clothes debacle, had been almost civil. He and Laren had joked at dinner and Fei Yin even chatted lightly. It wasn't half bad.

But aside from maybe not hating the woman as much as he thought he did he knew he had to even the score.

"You aren't going to let what happened tonight go are you?" Laren said, breaking the silence.

"Definitely not," he chuckled.

"So I'm to expect something worse?" she clarified.

"I wouldn't say that exactly, but I tell you, what I have in mind you won't be able to expect," he grinned at her. "Good night Laren."

Laren eyed him suspiciously and smiled back.

"Good night, Nikola," she shook his hand and he began waltzing away.

"Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!" he chorused as he headed to his room.

"Bugs?" Laren froze. "What do you mean by..."

The question went mute by the sound of his door slamming shut.

"Crap," she muttered. She wasn't going to sleep as early as she thought she was.

**~~~~Author's Notes~~~~**

See! Helen's still in this fic..sort of. Laughing a little bit?

Hope you guys are having a wonderful Christmas. Almost done writing the last chaps for Troublemakers :) Exciting? I think so! It's almost been...like two years in the making, almost three...holy moles! And i'm only finishing it now...wow i'm lazy. Well, it's finish shall hopefully spread some warmth to your toesies. For now you will just have to settle with this fic as I finish up my the chapters so I can upload them in a descent fashion so you guys don't have to sit there biting your nails. Happy Holidays lovelies!


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The sun rose gently over the Scottish hills. Nikola rolled over in his sleep, pleasantly dreaming again. He hadn't gotten this much sleep in over thirty years. He must be bored.

He snuggled his face against the pillows. The sun peeked inside his bedroom, landing on his face and warming it up.

He was perfectly content. Sleepy, comfortable, dreaming...

"Cock-a-doodle-doo!"

He jumped awake, his morning piece instantly broken.

"Damn you bird!" he cried tossing a pillow at the window that the rooster stood just outside of.

It barely budged.

Nikola growled.

He had gone to sleep in nothing but his trousers and suspenders.

His bare torso now chilled from being so abruptly removed from its warm enclosure. He grabbed the blanket and threw it over him again.

He was going to have five more minutes of peace and no mutant chicken was going to stop him.

He relaxed again, burying his nose into the warm cushions.

He was just about on the cusp of dreaming when...

"Cock-a-doodle-doo!" cried the rooster again.

Nikola snapped his eyes open.

"That's it!" he cried, throwing the blanket off.

_**~~~~Elsewhere~~~~**_

Laren yawned as she stepped out of her bedroom carrying her robe and towel to the bathroom.

She had a pleasant sleep and was ready for the new day. The maids were waking up, getting ready for the day's chores and she was sure she wouldn't get any trouble from Nikola on this beautiful Sunday.

Her morning reverie was broken by a loud shriek.

"Bah-kah!"

Nikola's bedroom door shot open.

"Come back here Franken-rooster!" he cried flying out of the door.

Murray the rooster came running out of the room.

"Bawk!" it cried.

"You better run! Cause once I catch you it will be breakfast time! I'm thinking chicken fricasee!"

"Bah-kah!" Murray ran past Laren and Nikola came stumbling after.

"As much as it amuses me, are you about done terrorizing my rooster?" she said with a hand on her hip.

"He's not a rooster, he's a freak of nature," growled Nikola.

"All the same, leave him alone, he's only doing his job," smirked Laren.

"He would be working for you, you probably bribed him with an extra handful of corn," Nikola eyed her suspiciously.

"Two, actually," she teased back.

He snickered sarcastically.

"How was your sleep?" he asked.

"No bed bugs," she smirked.

"Shame," he shrugged and turned on his heel, heading back to his room.

Laren semi-admired his bare torso as he strutted away but caught herself and waved it off.

She went into the bathroom and started her daily routine of showering.

Nikola finished dressing and walked out of his room casually.

Just as he walked past the bathroom he heard Laren curse and he snickered.

Somebody was out of volume intensifying and fortifying herbal shampoo.

He took her momentary distraction to slip into her unguarded room.

The bedroom was not much different than his, just more candles and a few more picture frames.

There was a nice old oak dresser in the corner and he smirked.

He pulled out the drawer and scooped up the neatly folded clothes.

He'd leave her just enough so she wouldn't be strutting around the castle in the nude, but just little enough to make her feel embarrassed.

He grinned at one of her old shirts. Perfect. It was hideous. Underwear, bra, all that, and he even took her shoes, leaving her with the ugliest pair of rainboots he'd ever seen in his life.

He was going to hide the rest in various places. She'd be searching for them for a week.

He was careful in his choosing and spent all of an hour hiding every last article of clothing.

This was why you never crossed Nikola Tesla.

_**~~~~Later~~~~**_

It was his day off and he relished in the gorgeous sunshine and the shimmering water of the river.

He went for a long swim and then set up a lawn chair near its banks and sat in his shorts, soaking in the warmth of the day.

He loved Sundays.

He'd stolen a book from the small book collection Laren had and was happily mewling over its words as a shadow crept towards his pleasant relaxation.

He looked up from the book and grinned.

"Well, don't you look just fashionable," he teased.

Laren of course was wearing a hideous multi-colored blouse, a frumpy skirt, the rain boots, and a big wide-brimmed hat.

"We agreed that you would stay on the premises on your day off," she said sternly, ignoring his remarks.

"And I am, I'm within ear shot," he said matter-of-factly.

Laren huffed at him.

"What did you do with my clothes?" she asked.

"Put them here and there, none of them are ruined I assure you, but as to where they are specifically...you know, I - there was just so many of them I can't remember," he shrugged innocently.

"You are a real dick Tesla, if that's even you're real name," she crossed her arms.

"And what if it was?" he grinned at her.

"I would like to know which wizard is brewing immortality potions up for you and see what his rates are," she joked.

"His name's Fred, nice guy actually," Nikola teased back.

"Why are you like this?" she groaned. "I have never met a man so stubborn and closed off as you. You give nothing away."

"You never asked. You just decided on the spot that I was some kind of pig and I decided that I wasn't going to waste my time vying for your approval."

"There. You did it again. Always skirting around the issue, always stabbing back with a witty jab and never answering my questions."

"Well, what's your question?" he stood up.

"Who are you? And tell me straight," she asked.

"What do you want to know?" he asked back.

"I told you my background, what's your heritage?" she sighed.

"I'm born Serbian..." he started and she rolled her eyes.

"Please!" she cried. "Do you think I'm an idiot! You are not Nikola Tesla!"

Nikola smirked.

"Što je u imenu? Ono što mi zovemo ružu bilo kojim drugim imenom bi miris kao slatko," he said in his natural tongue and watched as her disbelief melted with his words.

"What was that?" she asked.

"Shakespeare," he smirked.

"I don't get you," she growled.

"And I don't get why knowing my real name is so darn important to you. I choose to go by whatever name, be it Tesla or Frankenstein. I'm still myself, it's not going to change me or how you feel about me. So what's the point?"

He laughed.

"You just can't stand me because I have entered your perfect little shell of reality and messed things up." They were standing nose to nose again, staring each other down.

"You think you know everything about everyone don't you? You think you can read me like an open book, don't you?" She put her hands on her hips. "You know nothing about me, and it grinds my gears that you think you do."

"It does?" he challenged sarcastically.

"Yes, it does," she bit harshly.

Suddenly a harsh wind came and blew her hat clean of her head and into the river.

"My hat!" she cried.

Nikola shrugged.

"Poor you," he sat down and continued to enjoy the sun.

"Well don't just sit there! Go and get it!" she cried.

"No, I don't think I will," he sighed.

"Oh you're really going to be that petty?" she growled. "That hat belonged to my late husband!"

Nikola opened his eyes and grumbled.

"Fine, I'll get it, only because I respect the dead," he walked past her and to the bank of the river.

"I doubt you respect anything," she glared at him.

He rolled his eyes and ignored her. He dove into the cool water and swam out to where the hat was grasping it firmly and swimming back.

"Happy now?" he held it up to her.

"Yes, very," she took it from him and shook out the water.

He held his hand up.

She stared at it.

"Oh come on, I got the hat for you," he cried.

She relented and gave him her hand.

He took a firm hold of it and pulled her roughly into the water.

She shrieked as she fell in.

"You bastard!" she cried.

"Fair's fair," he shrugged and easily pulled himself onto the bank.

He put on his white shirt hanging over the back of his chair.

"The water's quite refreshing isn't it?" he smirked as she pulled herself on to the grass.

"These are my only clothes, thanks to you!" she barked.

"They'll dry if you stay out in the sun long enough," she smirked.

"I hate you," she cried.

"Really, now I'm hurt, and here I thought we were becoming such good friends," he teased.

Laren stood up, grabbing a fistful of grass and dirt.

"You and I will never, EVER, be friends," she glared at him and brought her hand up carrying the dirt and smearing it across his clean white linen shirt.

Nikola gasped angrily.

"Ok, there is a line, and you just crossed it!" he growled.

Laren smirked.

"It will wash out, just go for a swim long enough," she teased, sweeping her wet hair out of her face.

Nikola suddenly picked her up and hoisted her over his shoulder.

"Agh! What are you doing?" she cried.

"You wanted a war, I'll give you a war," he said.

He carried her up the hill to the pig pen on the west side of the castle. There were only a few pigs lounging in the thick pool of mud. It was about knee high and very smelly. Nikola had avoided it all this time because of how bad it was but now it was perfect for his revenge.

He brought Laren up to the fence and sat her on it.

She clung to him.

"Nikola! Don't you dare!" she cried.

He unwound himself from her and have her a light push.

"Toodles!" he waved. Laren, at the last minute reached out and with all her strength tugged him over and into the mud pool with her. She landed with a splurge on her back he landed with a gurgle face first, head emerging moments later gasping through the mud.

Well, that had backfired.

"I can't believe you!" she began hitting him with the back of her hand.

"Well it didn't exactly work out the way I wanted it didn't it?" he growled.

"You idiot!" she cried.

"Oh I'm the idiot?" he turned and threw a handful of mud at her.

She dodged it.

"Yes, you're an idiot!" she cried. "And you're childish!"

"I'm childish? You're the one who started this whole thing the moment we met!" he cried tossing more mud at her. "And when have you ever said 'let's stop this fighting and approach this like adults'. You out of the both of us, loved it!"

"I liked putting you in your place!" she tossed mud back at him.

"You don't have a place to put me!" he rolled his eyes.

He got walloped by a huge slap of mud.

All words were lost and he tackled her into the mud, pinning her to throw as much mud as he could on her.

She struggled one hand free and grabbed a fistful of mud and threw it down his shirt.

He backed off to remove it. In his distraction she leaped on his back, pelting his face with mud, he stumbled blindly and lost his footing falling face down in the pool.

Laren straddled above him, she grabbed him by his hair and brought his face up out of the mud then back down, then back up then down.

He gasped and spat out mud. He turned around beneath her and tossed more mud at her. She tossed more mud back. Somehow through all the mud tossing the anger dissolved into giggles and it had become a game. Both forgetting really what had started it.

She began laughing and running, still throwing mud at him and he chased her, grasping her by the waist and throttling both of them back into the mud pool.

The pigs sat back completely frightened.

They rolled together in the mud, still throwing mud but with less efficiency and soon she had pushed up from under Nikola and was sitting in front of him.

They both were breathing heavily and were covered from head to toe with mud.

They stared at each other.

Both, in an odd way, had gained a new respect for each other, for some reason.

They shared a small breathless laugh.

"Ms. Hayward! Mr. Tesla!" cried the head maid. "Get out of there this instant! What do you think you're doing? Are ye five?"

The older Scottish woman was livid.

"Get out and wash up!" she ordered. "I have had it up to here with this silly rivalry and I won't stand for it anymore! But this has took the cake! And I thought him roaming around in his birthday suit was bad enough! No more fighting or I swear I'll put you in the corner for a time out."

She marched away angrily and Nikola and Laren looked at each other for a moment before bursting out in to laughter.

"She's right you know, we are acting like five year olds," said Laren with a sigh. "I wonder why that is."

Nikola chuckled slightly and for some reason decided this was the best moment to kiss her.

This infuriating, self-absorbed, childish, playful, immature, wonderful and new woman, covered in mud.

She was taken aback by his sudden kiss but was soon kissing back happily.

Her hands trailed into his muddy hair, the same hair she had gripped to plunge his face into the mud moments ago.

His arms wound around her waist as the kiss deepened.

They were interrupted by a loud clanging.

"I said out!" cried the maid. "You're scaring the piggies! Go, to the lake, wash that mud off, go!"

The two chuckled and backed away from each other, following orders and getting out of the pig pen.

Nikola graciously offered his hand to help her over the fence and they went in a comfortable yet forced silence. They both wanted to know what happened back there.

Soon they were back in the water, and cleaning off the mud.

Nikola suddenly chuckled.

"What?" asked Laren. Their backs were turned to each other so they could bathe in relative privacy.

"Is she always like that?" he asked, referring to the maid.

"I may own the place but she has been here and had ran it since I was a child, she runs a tight ship," Laren said with a slight laugh.

"I guess you have to respect that," he sighed.

"Well, I respect her," Laren sighed. "George loved it here."

"When I was young, my father had to go to this small town, bigger than our village, to fill in for their priest while the new one was coming over from Russia. This town, I can't remember the name of it, but it was a lot like this place. Stone buildings, livestock. There was a river, just like this one, just behind the house we were given to stay in. I loved the water, I practically lived in it for the whole three weeks we were there. My sisters weren't good swimmers though, they stayed on the banks and scolded me when I splashed them," he chuckled. "This stretch of river reminds me of that."

Laren smiled slightly.

"You have sisters?" she asked.

"Had, they died during the war."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

He chuckled to himself. He'd forgotten to mention that it was mostly from old age.

"It's all right," he sighed. "I have many good memories to cherish with them in it."

"Did you have any other siblings?" she asked.

"One, my brother. He died when I was very young though," he sighed.

"Was he in the first war?" she asked.

"No, he was crushed by a horse," he sighed sadly. "I've never ridden a horse since."

Laren looked back at him slightly.

"That's the most honest I think you've been with me since you've been here," she said with a slight smile. "Thank you."

"I thought I owed you that much," he chuckled.

"Still going by Tesla, though?" she asked.

"Yep," he nodded.

"Right, I guess I can respect that," she nodded as well.

There was a tight pause briefly.

Laren bit her lip, figuring out how to ask this delicately.

"Why did you, uh, kiss me?" she asked.

Nikola coughed slightly.

"Oh yes, that. I thought it would annoy you, playfully annoy you, or something...come to think of it I really don't know why," he chuckled.

Laren chuckled as well.

"Well don't do it ever again," she said half heartedly and she didn't try to hide it.

"You kissed back though," he said.

"Only to prove that I could," she teased.

"Well, now we know," he smirked and she nodded.

He threw his wet but clean clothes on to the bank to dry. He remained in his shorts though, and began swimming around.

Laren laughed and did the same, staying in her underwear.

He dove down and popped up in front of her and splashed her. She shrieked and splashed back, laughing at herself and at him.

They swam around and splashed for another hour before both were thoroughly wet and tired.

Nikola pulled her up on to the bank and they lay in the grass together looking up at the clouds.

"Duck," she said.

"What?" he asked.

"That one there, it looks like a duck."

He smirked.

"Yah it kind of does," he rested his arms behind his head. "That one looks like a walrus."

Laren laughed.

"No, it's a Viking ship," she corrected.

"Is not, it's a walrus, look there are the tusks, head and body, walrus!" he pointed it out to her.

"Mast, sails, ship, it even has the little paddles," she pointed it out to him.

"Are we even looking at the same cloud?" he sat up slightly to adjust his angle.

"I don't know," she giggled.

"You're crazy, it's a walrus," he said adamantly.

"All right it's a walrus," she sighed and giggled again.

"What?" he looked down at her.

"It's just funny, this morning we were mortal enemies prepared to battle to the death with each other, and now we're cloud watching as if we've been friends forever...life is just funny that way," she shrugged.

"It is," Nikola smirked. "All we needed to do was come to an understanding."

Laren nodded.

"No better way to do that than in a pig pen," she broke out into a giggle.

He laughed as well.

"So we went to the extreme to get there but hey, it worked," he shrugged.

He lay back down and closed his eyes, content to lay there and rest a while in the warm sun.

"Tell me more about the village where you grew up," she prodded.

"Not much to know," he sighed. "We lived near the chapel and the cemetery, my mom raised chickens and at one time or another we had pigs, and an old horse named...something."

"Was he?"

"No, he was an old work horse my father used to take the elderly to church. He'd hook her up to an old wagon, and cart around every Sunday morning to all the old villagers houses, help them in, then take them off to the church. He called it a service. I really think it was to feed his ego. He was the only priest for miles and he loved to hear himself talk."

Laren chuckled.

"He wanted me to become a priest but I swore, even from a young age I would never stoop that low," he chuckled.

"Sounds very charming," she smirked.

"What about you? Where'd you grow up?" he asked.

"You're looking at it," she smirked. "Born and raised in McKinley Castle. My father was born here and his father was born here. A whole clan of McKinley's dating back to when it was first built. Though when it was passed down to me, George and I used it more as a country home or vacation getaway. He worked in London, we had a social life there. But he loved it here, he always said "Darling when I'm old and ready to retire we're going to go and live in that castle of yours, it'll be great", but then the war happened, he was killed, and I realized that I would be happier here, where he was happiest." She bit her lip slightly. "Though this has been one of the most pleasant afternoons I've spent since I got here, despite the circumstances."

Nikola cracked his eyes open and smiled at her.

"You're welcome," he said with a grin.

She laughed and swatted him.

He lay back down and let out a long sigh.

"It's a walrus," he stated firmly, and Laren burst into a full out laughter.

~~~~Author's Notes~~~~

Hey Folks, Happy New Years readers! Been meaning to post sooner but Mac needed to check up so he was at the Mac Store getting cleaned and taken care of. He's back! Yay! Now I can post a new chapter. Hopefully finish off my new chap for Troublemakers, and then get on writing a new chappie for HWMA. I hope you all have been having as wonderful a christmas vacation as i have. :)

Read and Review.

Again, thanks to Chartie for all her spellchecking and general debugging, because i am too ADD for that! HA!


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

The large man descended the dark staircase, his footsteps leaving loud echoing thumps with each step.

He flicked on the light and it created no more than a bleak halo around the old workbench.

There was a large paint can and several toolboxes on the bench's surface.

Ralph McGinnis lumbered unceremoniously over to them and began rifling through one of the toolboxes until a strange sound caught his attention.

He turned to it.

"Oh, it's you," he said, greeting the shadow behind him. "It's going to rain tonight, do you want me to go to the castle?"

The shadow said nothing in response only made the sound of a lighter being flicked open and closed.

"Please, no more arrows, I almost hit her," the Scottish man pleaded. "I've never intended it to go this far, and now she has this new man to protect her. I saw them in the market today. It was like he knew I was there."

He turned back to the tool kit he was sorting through earlier.

"If we want to do...as you say, we got to get rid of him, he'll make any attempt a load of trouble," Ralph McGinnis continued to explain. "There's also the woman too."

He let out a sigh.

"I don't want to hurt the girl. You promised me she'd be safe."

He moved away suddenly.

"All right, all right. I'm going. No arrows, but I can do something else, just as effective. I'll try to take care of the man while I'm at it."

He assorted his toolbox and picked it up.

"I'll be on my way then."

He turned off the light and climbed back up the stairs.

_**~~~~Later~~~~**_

Nikola had his arms wrapped around something. Something soft and smelling of lilac, it was rather pleasant.

He felt around a bit more.

Oh god he hoped it wasn't a farm animal.

He was afraid to open his eyes when a glorious sigh resounded on top of his chest.

He cracked his eyes open carefully.

Well, how did this happen?

He was still lying in the grass near the river, dressed in his now dry shorts with a deeply snoozing Laren sleeping on top of him.

It was getting to be late evening and the moon was just peeking out of the greying sky. It was going to rain, he could smell it.

That and he could smell her. Despite the mud and the water she smelt wonderful. It was a very relaxing if subtle scent only really detectable by his heightened vampiric senses but it really was a beautiful smell.

She sighed again and shifted slightly, still lying on top of him.

She must've gotten cold or something. She looked perfectly comfortable now.

One of his hands reached up and brushed a stray lock of hair away from her face.

Today had been a wonderfully strange day involving this woman, and somehow all their animosity had dissolved like salt in water.

Suddenly her breathing pattern changed and she lifted her head up sleepily.

When she realized where she was and who she was lying on she immediately sat up her face looking a tad flushed.

"Oh my dear," she muttered.

"Have a good sleep?" Nikola smirked and sat up as well.

His bare torso chilled at the loss of warmth and he reached over and pulled his shirt on beside him.

"How long?" she asked.

"As long as I've been, how long that is I don't know," he shrugged.

She shivered and got up, grabbing her now dry clothes and putting them on.

"I must've moved in my sleep," she sighed. Nikola stood up and put on his pants.

"It's no problem," he waved it off.

"I'm terribly sorry," she kept her face away so he couldn't see her blush.

"It's really not that big of a deal, we just fell asleep in the grass together, that's all," he shrugged.

"Right," she sighed, now feeling foolish.

"I'll walk you back to the castle, it's going to rain soon so we should probably get a move on," he suggested and Laren nodded.

"I agree," she pushed her long blonde hair out of her eyes.

They began trekking up the hill. Not long after the dark clouds broke and rain was pouring down on them.

"So much for drying off," laughed Laren. She and Nikola ducked underneath the shelter of the stable entrance. He somehow ended up with his arm wound around her waist. She didn't find it odd either, she just cuddled closer to him for warmth.

He chuckled.

"What a day," he smirked at her.

"Yes quite," she smiled at him.

There was something about her, he couldn't place why.

They were nose to nose again, looking at each other. A part of him wanted to close the gap and kiss her again. There was just something about her.

Maybe he hadn't had it in a long while, exile and hiding doesn't usually make room for romance but it was more than that. Was he falling in love again?

No, it couldn't be that. He was just curious. She was clever, conniving, and just as immature as he was, all the things that turned him on.

He eyed her lips slightly then backed off, maybe later.

"So, should we make a mad dash to the house?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure," he smirked.

"I might have to borrow a shirt of yours. You didn't exactly leave me with a lot of spares," she sighed.

"I'll get your clothes back for you tomorrow when the rain stops," he smirked slightly.

She laughed.

"Thank you, a little variety would be nice, though it was good, very good," she smirked.

"Why thank you. The rooster wasn't a bad touch on your part. Can you give him a day off tomorrow?" Nikola joked.

"Sadly, that is his actually post, I placed you in that room specifically to be near Murray," she shrugged.

"I'll just have to find another place to sleep," he grinned at her, oddly flirtatiously.

Did he really just imply that?

She gave him a look.

Yes, yes he did just imply that.

He decided it would be more awkward if he tried to correct himself so he just nodded and went with it.

"What are you insinuating Mr. Tesla?" she asked cautiously and with a slight pinch of suspicion.

"Nothing," he shrugged less than innocently. "But I bet you're curious as to what I'm thinking."

"I am now," she said with a laugh. "Weren't we mortal enemies hours ago?"

"You know what they say, keep your friends close, but your enemies closer," he replied with a chuckle.

"You are such a tool," she said, rolling her eyes.

He laughed louder and swiped his hand through his hair, spraying her slightly.

"First you kiss me, then you talk like this, I better not find you in my room tonight," she teased.

"I'm attracted to adversity, what can I say?" he told her with a smirk.

"So you're attracted to me then?" she asked with a humored twinkle in her eye.

Nikola's grin faltered.

"Heh," he half-chuckled awkwardly, suddenly at a loss for words.

"Don't worry," she let him off the hook. "I wouldn't touch you in a million years."

She giggled slightly.

"I don't know, I think you'd be missing out," he shrugged.

"On you?" she scoffed.

"I'm pretty fantastic," he said, smirking. She knew he was just talking out of his ass at this point.

"Are you now?" she placed a hand on her hip.

"I heard you squeak a little when I kissed you," he leant close to her. "And that's just a kiss."

She leaned her face closer to him.

"I don't like the taste of mud in my mouth," she whispered semi-seductively.

He didn't fail to notice how their proximity made it so that when ever she spoke her lips almost brushed his.

He smirked, wondering what he could do to make the contact that much more prominent. It was a delicate game.

He barely moved his head an inch just tilting it ever so slightly. Their eye lines remained in steady contact. Challenged and with a small bit of yearning, he was watching for the kill switch and she was waiting to see if he'd chicken out first.

Nikola could feel her breath on his chin, warm in comparison to the wet droplets there. Her hair was wet and plastered to her forehead.

Were they still screwing with each other? Was this just another level to their game? They'd tied in the first round, and now on to a new game of one-upmanship? They've seen what they were capable with in the battle of wits, now it was a battle of wills.

He remembered talking to Robert once about how some people, who outwardly seem to hate each other only act this way because they secretly desire the other person more than their brain can comprehend. He had used Shakespeare's Much Ado as a prime example. The boy and the girl playing in the sandbox, the boy is tugging on the girls pigtails, the girl is throwing sand at the boy, the childhood version of flirting.

Was he in love with the girl in the sandbox?

Was that a bad thing?

His lips curled into a smile, he had made his decision.

He lifted a hand slightly to...

"Mr. Tesla!" Fei Yin's voice split the two apart almost dramatically.

"What is it Fei Yin?" asked Laren, regaining her authoritative persona.

"It's Ralph! He's back!" she cried.

"What?" Nikola barked.

"He left me a note...he's here," Fei Yin almost trembled, Nikola could see it the distance he and Laren were from her.

"Get back inside and stay away from the windows, ok?" ordered Nikola.

Suddenly the light above the stable went out with a small smash.

Nikola leapt to protect Laren from anything.

The visibility of outside was low.

"Fei Yin, get inside now!" Nikola could just see her. The rain was pelting hard and was obstructing even his vampire eyesight.

Fei Yin nodded and ran back to the house. The lights were still on.

Nikola grabbed Laren's arm.

"Come on," he said in a hushed whisper.

"Nikola," Laren clung to him.

"Fei Yin's inside, I suggest you be there too," he tugged her out of the shelter of the stable.

Suddenly the lights inside the house blinked and then shut off.

The night black sky and the thick rain was leaving Nikola in a complete state of disorientation.

The rain obstructed both his sight and his hearing. He clung tighter to Laren.

He kept moving quickly. His memory still worked, and he remembered exactly how many steps it took to get from the stable to the front door.

"I can't see a thing," Laren sounded worried and held his hand tighter.

"That's the point. He's trying to catch us off guard," said Nikola.

"He's doing a bloody good job of it," sighed Laren.

Nikola suddenly stopped.

Something in the air had changed; a smell.

A slight gasp of hot air behind him.

Nikola turned around carefully.

Lightning cracked above him and filled the bleak dark with a crack of light. In that crack Nikola saw him. Six feet four, huge and broad with an angry face. He held something in his hand, aimed to strike.

Nikola used his vampiric abilities to push himself and Laren out of the way. Laren shrieked.

Nikola barely had time to gather his bearings before he was walloped in the head with what felt like a hammer.

Whatever skull fracture he would've received healed instantly and he recovered quickly enough to discover he was lying face down at the man's shoes.

"Nikola!" cried Laren.

Nikola spun and grabbed the arm hurdling towards him, breaking the wrist and causing the large brute to drop the implement.

Ralph let out a feral snarl and grasped his arm to him.

It gave Nikola enough time to grab Laren and begin pushing her to the door.

The back of his shirt was grasped just as they reached the threshold and Nikola was flung back. Splashing into the wet ground.

Instinctively Nikola rolled over, just in time before a heavy steel-toed boot crushed the ground where his head had been.

Nikola made it to his feet and shook off the rain.

Ralph let out another snarl and Nikola instinctively vamped out and slashed him.

Ralph backed off with a yelp but rebounded with his fist. He clotheslined Nikola and hurdled him to the ground.

Laren ran out and grabbed Ralph's fist as he brought it back to hit Nikola.

"Stop! Ralph! What are you doing?" she cried.

He didn't speak only growled and shook her off. He grasped the hammer and pinned Nikola down by the throat, despite his broken wrist. Nikola saw him lift up the hammer, jagged edge down.

Laren found herself lying next to Ralph's tool kit and saw a crowbar sitting in it. She grasped it tightly in her hands and quickly stood up.

"God forgive me," she prayed as she swung the bar into the side of Ralph's head.

He flew sideways and away from Nikola clutching his head.

"You," he growled and turned to Laren, he grasped the front of her shirt and she dropped the crowbar.

"What do you want from us?" she said, shivering.

He snarled and held up the hammer but found a hand was stopped before he could bring it down on her.

"That's not how you treat a lady," came in the deep, unnatural rumbling of Nikola's inner beast shining through.

Ralph's ferocity melted under the gaze of the black soulless eyes. He could see his fate reflected in them as lighting cracked the sky again.

He dropped the hammer.

"Now let go of the woman, or I will break more than your wrist," Nikola snarled vehemently.

Ralph dropped the hammer and let go of Laren. She stumbled away, not knowing exactly who or what she was more afraid of.

She had seen the creature too. There was nothing human about him. The eyes, the fangs, it was something of a nightmare but behind it all it was still him.

"That's better, now Mr. McGinnis. You're about done terrorizing this household," threatened Nikola. "Even if I have to bring you in myself."

Ralph, in a moment of panic grabbed a small container of something from his back pocket and threw its contents on Nikola.

Nikola released Ralph as the liquid began to burn at his skin. His healing abilities managed to come in and repair the subsequent damage but it was enough for Ralph to escape without a trace.

Nikola looked all over for the large man but he was lost among the dark and rain.

What was left though was the small canister. Nikola picked it up and sealed the lid. There was still some liquid left. He would analyze it later.

Another crack of lightning and Nikola changed focus.

"Laren, Laren are you alright?" he asked coming up to her.

"I, uh, I," she didn't know whether to be terrified of him or grateful so she was stuck between shocked and speechless.

"Come on," she involuntarily backed away from him when she felt his hand touch her arm. "Laren! I won't hurt you."

There was something in the way he spoke, she knew he was telling the truth.

She allowed him to lead her back to the house.

Once they were inside she was soon swept away from him by her scared and confused staff, asking a flurry of questions she did not have the answers to.

Nikola quietly slipped away to the staircase. He looked back and caught her eye for a tense moment. He gave her a look that meant they would talk about it later. She seemed to understand and nodded her head. She began instructing the maids in lighting the candles and the fireplaces to restore some heat and light to the castle.

Nikola slowly made his way up the stairs to his bedroom.

His shirt was worn through and completely ruined. There was a small hint of blood at his hairline where he had been struck by the hammer.

He had soon peeled off his wet and burnt garments. He tossed them in a pile to most likely get thrown out or used as dish rags.

He dried and changed quickly then grabbed a spare shirt and a pair of his trousers and headed back downstairs.

The fireplace in the parlor had already been lit and Laren was sitting before its roaring flames.

She looked cold.

Nikola coughed slightly.

She turned to him and he held up the spare clothes.

"I, uh, thought you might like some dry clothes to change into, at least until your other ones are dry," he held them out to her.

She nodded silently and took them.

He turned his back and let her peel off her wet clothes and change into his dry shirt and clean trousers.

She hung up her wet clothes before the fire and coughed to signify that she was decent.

Nikola turned back around and looked at her.

Her blonde hair was let down in wet stringy clumps and the shirt was too big for her but she looked...beautiful in a way.

"Did he...did he hurt you?" asked Nikola.

"No...no, just bruised me a bit," she said, her thumbs twiddling slightly.

"Is Fei Yin alright?" he asked.

"A little upset but he didn't try to harm her," said Laren. "Given the circumstances she's very lucky. We're very lucky...I'm very lucky. He might've killed me."

"I would've never let that happen," said Nikola with a determined eye.

"I wasn't so sure you wouldn't have for a moment there," she said seriously. He could tell she was a little bit freaked out and confused by what she had seen. "What happened out there?"

Nikola approached her cautiously. Unsure of what to say but sure he had no choice but to tell her the truth.

"Please sit down Laren," he said softly and she obeyed, quietly sitting down on the small settee.

He stood in front of her and felt awkward so he decided to kneel instead.

"Laren what you saw, what I did...it's not what you think," he started.

"I don't know what I think. All I know is that it wasn't human. What you became it wasn't..."

"Please just listen to me," he sighed.

"And your clothes they were...they were burnt, he threw...I saw him throw acid at you, but you...your skin there is..."

"Laren, I'm a vampire," he just came out and said it. "At least, partially. It's a long story, and I'm not sure how much of it I can actually tell... but you asked me why I don't talk about myself well there you have it, I'm not exactly normal," he sighed. "Helen knows. It's why she asked me to help because I am abnormally strong, inhumanly strong... and because I don't kill easily."

He went over to the fire and put his hand into the flames. The pain was excruciating and he could see the way Laren squirmed uncomfortably.

"Nikola, stop!" she finally cried and he pulled his hand out of the fire.

He held it up to her.

"He can cut me, throw acid on me, bludgeon me with a blunt instrument. It won't keep me down," his hand healed as he spoke. It was now as perfect and untouched, if a little callous. He kneeled in front of her again and she grasped the hand, looking at it from top to bottom.

"There you have it," he chuckled. "The perfect bodyguard."

Her uncertainty melted slightly into some kind of amazement.

"But...how?"

"There is no wizard, no magical potion or poisonous bite. And I don't drink the blood of humans, Helen has made me a medication for that, I promise you. I'm just part vampire with a few heightened senses and some tricks up my sleeves."

"Are you really...?"

"Nikola Tesla? Yes," he hadn't been able to admit that for years. "I'm 91 years old and yes, I still act like a child," Laren laughed slightly. "Laren you must know that I shouldn't be telling you this. This is not something most people take well, but I'm trusting you with this secret because I...I want you to trust me so I can better look after you...and Fei Yin."

Laren took in a deep sigh.

"Let me see it," she stated firmly but softly.

"You want me to..."

She nodded.

"Please," she begged.

Nikola looked into her eyes. They were not full of fear as they once were.

He nodded and closed his eyes, calling the beast forward. He kept his hands away from her as the long black talons grew out his fingertips.

She watched as his skin paled slightly in the light of the flames and his teeth grew sharper and more prominent.

He opened his eyes and the black orbs bore into her soul. She gasped slightly. There was a hint of red on the edges of the eyes that swirled inwards and melted into the black making it seem a lot less soulless than they had first appeared.

This, for a small fraction, was the real Nikola Tesla. Not the man she had read about in the papers. She didn't know who that man was but she knew this man.

She reached her hands out and cupped his face, surprised by how cool it was comparatively. Her fingers traced the animalistic teeth protruding behind his lips, exploring the contours of his face.

Nikola closed his eyes as she continued her exploration of him, pressing his face more affectionately into her hand. She traced his ear and jawline to his chin. She wanted to understand the man behind the monster that really wasn't a monster at all. He was a shield, her protector.

His hair had dried and resumed its strange state. Her hand ran across his cheek slightly and just into the beginning of his hairline right beside the temple.

Nikola could not help the involuntary gasp as her nails lightly scraped across his scalp, weaving her hands through his hair. His breath hitched slightly, somehow hers did too.

Nikola opened his eyes and grasped the hand entwined in his hair. He brought it down to his lips and kissed the palm of it, gently letting his vampiric fangs scrape against the skin. He was showing her the control he had, proving to her she had nothing to fear.

He placed one last gentle kiss to the palm centre and then looked up to her with blue-grey eyes.

She looked flustered, her breath seemed a little uneven and slightly ragged.

"Laren, I..." he whispered gently.

"Shhh," she hushed him.

She slid off the couch to kneel before him.

They looked each other in the eye.

"I don't exactly know...anything about you anymore," she said almost breathlessly it seemed. "Nikola, I..."

She ran her hand through his hair again.

"You don't make any sense to me," she whispered.

Nikola's heart was pounding loudly in his chest.

"I just told you all you need to know," he said softly. "Except that I want to kiss you again."

He leaned in slightly and just barely touched his lips to hers when she backed away from him.

"No," she said firmly. "I don't think I can let you do that."

"Why not?" he asked.

"When I first met you, do you know why I despised you?" she asked. He shook his head. "It was because you reminded me exactly of him. George. My late husband. I wasn't ready for a reminder because I felt not only were you not him but you were a shoddy replacement for him and I resented you for that. But now I realize that you are nothing like him at all. And now I don't understand why my heart doesn't stop racing when I'm around you. You infuriate me, you impassion me, you confuse me. So I'm going to say no before you twist me any further. No, Mr. Tesla, I will not be falling for you."

Nikola sat on his haunches a bit stunned at the honesty of her confession.

"All right," he stuttered.

"We will continue with our arrangement as agreed. You will continue to guard Fei Yin. We can continue to be friends and when all is said and done we will shake hands, you will go your way and I will go mine. Our hearts will not be crossed here."

Nikola listened to every word.

"All right," he nodded.

"Ok," she sighed and stood up. "Goodnight Mr. Tesla."

"Goodnight...Ms. Hayward," the informal name stung his heart a little when he said it.

She nodded and walked out of the parlor.

Nikola blinked, what had just happened? He swore Laren had just confessed she had feelings for him, or was projecting latent desires for her late husband on to him, or that's how it started but now she was falling for him now and she didn't want to because she was still in love or at least felt she still should be...boy it was confusing.

He got off his knees and let out a huff of air.

There was something deeply erotic in the way she had explored his vampiric form. The gentle fleeting touches, the soft, held breath he could hear her breathe as she came to know his hidden monster. No woman, not even Helen had done that to him.

She exposed him in that moment. He was completely bare to her. He could still feel her hands sweeping through his hair, the feel of the pads of her fingers over his skin.

He stood up and knew that if she walked in she would see the effects of her probing his demon. It wasn't just lust though, it was a deep need, a need for a soul to understand him and his monster inside.

It both aroused him and made him ache with an emptiness that has long been ignored.

He made it back up to his room and lay down on his bed. He didn't bother to strip any layers he just laid back, tucking a hand behind his head to support his skull.

Today had been one weird roller coaster of different emotions from first hating her to somehow absolving that, to playing with her, and now...

He scrubbed a hand over his face.

Why did she touch him like that?

He sighed again.

It was best to forget about it. He didn't need to fall in love with another woman who wouldn't have him anyways.

~~~~Author's Notes~~~~

Aww, sigh...love is in the air...sort of.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Morning came quickly over McKinley Castle. The rooster crowed the sun's arrival as it gently peaked over the rolling Scottish hills. Luckily for Murray, Nikola was awake long before then. He had his nose buried in the small canister that had been left carelessly by Ralph the night before.

It was sticky to the touch aside from the rain and smelt more like jam than acid.

He examined it carefully trying not to touch it with his hands, instead he used a cut out of sheet from his bed, he was sure the head maid wouldn't mind.

He sat back and let out a sigh.

He needed to talk to Helen before he proceeded with this he decided, and he left his room and grabbed the phone off its stand and dragged it and it's long chord back to his bedroom.

One day he'd invent a phone without wires.

He dialed Helen and rapped on the side of the table as he waited for her to pick up.

"Nikola, this better not be you," her sleepy voice grumbled over the line.

"Good morning love," he grinned. "I trust you slept well."

"Very. What do you want?" She muttered unhappily.

"I have an interesting prospect for you," he leaned back in his chair.

"Nikola, if this is a joke please hang up," she groaned.

"No, I'm serious, I've got a sample of the acid that this Ralph fellow has been using to terrorize your friend and I need it tested and I can't very well do it here and I can't very well leave..."

"I see," Helen's curiosity was piqued.

"I'm going to send it to you via express mail. Where's your little bird friend?" asked Nikola casually.

"Of course, that's your real ploy," Helen sighed. "I'll talk to him, but he's not a carrier pigeon, so don't treat him like one."

"Helen, this is kind of a timely issue, I haven't been here a week and he's already escalated from writing messages to fire arrows to attempted murder."

"Has he hurt anybody?" Helen asked, worry creeping into her voice.

"Not majorly, a few freaked out maids and some bruises, though he tried to take me out with the business end of a hammer," he said casually.

"Are you alright?" asked Helen.

"Helen, I'm touched, you sound genuinely concerned," he teased, placing a hand over his heart.

"I'm actually surprised you and Laren haven't killed each other yourselves yet," she teased back.

"No, we, uh, we haven't...I actually quite like her, you know she's not so bad once you get used to her," he smirked, his mind flashing back to her, last night.

"You slept with her didn't you?" Helen huffed.

"What? No! We just...I'm just saying that she's not as bad as I thought she was at first, I've absolved my original grudge, she's somewhat tolerable now," he said firmly.

"Well that's very mature of you," Helen said condescendingly. "I'll tell James."

"Thank you Mother," he said snidely.

"And Nikola..."

"Yes?"

"Take care of yourself, alright."

"Of course I will, you owe me dinner for this favor, I look forward to it."

"Wait I never said..."

"Gotta go. Miss you. Love you. Bye bye!" He hung up the phone on her and smiled with smug satisfaction.

Now to get this thing properly packaged for delivery.

He stood up and grabbed the telephone to put it back on it's table.

Without looking the long wire hooked on the underside of the canister and sent it hurdling to the floor, knocking its lid off and it's contents spilling to the floor.

Nikola spun around at the sound and made a startled noise. Afraid of the damage he must've caused and the hole the acid was no doubt creating in his floor. He turned around to see...a puddle...of deep red liquid...not doing much of anything.

"Hello?" he lent down to examine it. He sniffed it, dabbed a finger in it cautiously, tasted it. Ugh! Plants. Not acid...how could that be?

He picked up his scrap of cloth and used it to put the remaining liquid back in the canister and mop up the rest.

He took the rag over to the small basin to wash it out.

As soon as the cloth hit the water it disintegrated in a series of red acidic bubbles. Nikola's eyes widened and he pulled his fingers away before they melted.

He gaped at site of the acid as it gently dissolved with the water.

Organic acid activated by water? Was there such a thing?

He picked up the phone and dialed again.

"Nikola, you have got to be kidding me!" Helen cried.

"I just made a discovery Helen...and you are not going to believe this."

_**~~~~Later~~~~**_

_I was a child and she was a child, _

_In this kingdom by the sea; _

_But we loved with a love that was more than love- I and my Annabel Lee;_

Nikola sat in his lawn chair as Fei Yin helped assist the other maids in hanging up the laundry.

It was sunny and warm out so naturally Nikola lounged in just a white shirt with his jacket draped over the back and his vest open and splayed to the sides.

He read a book of old poems, flipping through it lazily. It wasn't that interesting but it was enough so that he wouldn't get scowled at by the other maids for not helping.

He looked up and saw Laren coming out of the house with another basket of laundry. He couldn't help but smile and watch her as she joined the maids in laying out the long white sheets.

She smiled warmly at all of them and said a few words to each individually, as of she truly appreciated their help with the house.

Fei Yin was her last stop and her eyes flitted over to him, meeting his gaze for a brief moment

He smiled faintly then returned to his book.

Laren shook her head and looked back to Fei Yin and whispering to her lightly before both shared a laugh. Nikola couldn't help but feel she was trying to make him feel gossiped about.

He ignored it.

When he looked up again they were pulling out a long sheet and shaking it out together.

Nikola noted how she had found some new clothes with a smirk, she was still wearing his shirt which made his heart beat a little louder.

The few top buttons were left open, extending her long gorgeous neck, and the ends of the shirt were tucked into a pair of tight-fitting riding pants that hugged each one of her lower curves, matched with a pair of knee-high leather riding boots. She was downright delectable.

He shook his head, he was not supposed to have such thoughts about her, reminding himself their conversation last night.

He truly hadn't stopped thinking about her or the event that had affected such a switch in his feelings for her. From loathing to friendship and now to yearning. He'd had dreams last night, lustful and carnal dreams of the most tantalizing kind, with touches and fleeting glances of bare skin. When he had awoken, before he had gotten distracted by the mysterious canister, he had found himself left with the physical effects of what such dreams could do to a man.

It was only the distraction of a pressing matter that kept him from doing anything about it.

He had avoided her at breakfast, and stuck by Fei Yin most of the rest of the morning, only now had she made his way back into his sights, and she was dressed like that, just begging for him to watch.

She had a small undershirt beneath his that did very little to cover the cleavage peaking outside the opening of his shirt. With every shake of her arms, trying to shake the sheet of wrinkles, her body shook, and Nikola's eyes bulged with the wide eyes amazement of an adolescent in puberty.

Her blonde hair was brought back in a messy side bun, that framed her face and neck beautifully.

She practically glowed with heavenly radiance and Nikola caught himself staring again.

He coughed, crossed his legs and tried once more to bury his nose in his book.

It was in vain as his eyes wandered over again. He could still feel her fingers ghosting over his lips and teeth, probing his inner demon without fear, learning his deep, dark secret with such awe and affection. It haunted him a little. No one had ever effected him like this, no one but another blonde, now redhead that he so admired.

She moved away from Fei Yin, taking her now empty basket down the long lines to the dry sheets that had been hung up first.

He couldn't resist not going over there, not anymore.

She took the sheets down carefully and began folding them up neatly.

"Mind if I help," Nikola swaggered over with a grin.

"Nikola," she grinned back. "I thought you were so engrossed in that novel that's you'd be there for days not able to put it down."

Her tone was teasing and he rolled his eyes slightly.

"It's not Shakespeare but it was entertaining enough," he shrugged. "But I thought you could use a hand."

"What you could do is return all my clothes to me, luckily I had a few spares hidden around. Thanks for the shirt by the way, it's very comfy," she teased some more and he chuckled.

"I don't know, I kind of like this look on you," he eyed her up and down. "Very masculine but with a hint of cleavage, how all women should be attired."

It was Laren's turn to laugh.

"A fantasy of yours?"

"I do like a woman in trousers," he said with a mischievous grin.

"Hopefully not too much," she pulled down another sheet. "Sexist," she accused with a teasing smile.

"Trollup," he called her back, taking one end of the sheet to help her fold it.

"Airhead," she resumed the name calling.

"Bimbo."

"Sluuuut," she drew out the word with articulated precision.

It was very sexy.

He chuckled and brought his folded corners of the sheet to meet hers, and suddenly they were standing way too close to each other.

Nikola's eyes met hers and they both shared a small smile.

Laren broke first.

"Sleep well? I didn't hear you with the rooster this morning," she turned away and finished folding the sheet putting it in the basket.

"I was already up," he shrugged. "I was looking at the canister Ralph left last night and I noticed something."

"What is that?" Laren asked.

"Did you realize that Ralph only attacks when it is raining?" Nikola inquired with a slight grin.

"No, but yes he does," Laren blinked with the realization.

"It's because the acid he's using is only acid when it is mixed with water, something in its chemical make up makes it acidic or very acid-like anyways," Nikola explained.

"But how-"

"I know. Ralph doesn't look like the biological chemistry type, which makes me think he's the muscle man," Nikola grinned as if he'd solved the puzzle. Take that Watson.

"You mean?"

"That someone else is pulling the intellectual strings, yes," Nikola answered for her. "Which means that this is way more than a big brute with a bad crush."

"But he's only ever asked for Fei Yin...unless..."

"You said she was born Chinese, right?" asked Nikola. "From what I know of them, they have old ancient recipes of an organic nature kept safely secure through family secrets and locked memory boxes."

"Both of Fei Yin's parents are gone, as she never mentioned any others, that's why I brought her with me. Her family were protesting the government, they were our allies."

"I don't think it's her own family per se, might be a radical group of some sort trying to reclaim their fallen brothers and sister from the clutches of evil white men, unless you know of some personal enemy. You and your husband were heavily involved in the war if I recall you saying. Did he, or you make any kind of enemy?"

Laren bit her lip and mulled over his theories.

"I don't know, not anyone specific, not enough to have this kind of vendetta I don't think," she shook her head.

"Well, whoever it is, they are using Ralph as a weapon, possibly because he's big, brutish, skillful, and madly in love with an Asian flower that he doesn't know what to do."

"You think Ralph is just confused."

"Or scared, possibly for Fei Yin. Arrows are rather unpredictable weapons and so far I have not seen him make any direct grab for her and he definitely could have. In that market, he was watching us, and he is big and strong enough to have been able to attack us, knowing the police wouldn't try to stop him. But Fei Yin is not the main goal here, she's what he's trying to protect, I feel it."

Laren nodded.

"Seems like you're no longer just a bodyguard," Laren sighed. "Looks like you're chief of security."

Nikola chuckled slightly.

"I have always been more than a bodyguard," he teased and then walked away, resuming his seat in the chair and picking up his book.

Laren laughed and shook her head at him, the continued her folding.

"At least we know we're safe until the rain comes," Nikola added as an afterthought.

Before Laren could respond there was the distinct sound of a car honking in greeting to distract her.

Everyone dropped what they were doing and turned to see the car pull up.

Three men piled out of the car with joyous laughs and large smiles. One was old, getting into his sixties leading two Jack Russell terriers out of the car and a long hunting rifle under his arm. The other two were young men, brothers. An older one with shaggy brown hair and a large muscular build, and a younger one, his hair a fraction lighter, with a kind smile.

Nikola looked over at Fei Yin and saw her beaming at the younger one.

Ah, so this was the boy she had told him about. Well, he was handsome enough.

Nikola stood up and headed back over to Laren who was waving in greeting at the three men.

"Who are they?" Nikola asked, coming to stand next to her.

"Daniel, Finn, and Gruber," Laren smiled and kept waving.

"How Scottish," Nikola sighed.

"Born and bred and stubbornly so," Laren teased. "Gruber is the groundskeeper and his sons maintain the stables. They were off on a hunting trip, which means we'll most likely be eating venison tonight with some very good company."

Nikola made a content face at that.

"I prefer antelope but deer is nice," he restrained from licking his chops like an animal.

The younger, Daniel was his name spotted Fei Yin and his smile grew exponentially.

"Fei!" He called to her and began running over. "Look what I found for your collection."

His accent was thick but clean and easier to understand than most accents from this country were.

He held out a perfectly round stone, it almost looked like a marble, with deep and vibrant colors, possibly traces of quartz or some other mineral.

Fei Yin gasped and took it.

"It's beautiful," she sighed and smiled up at him. "Thank you."

"No problem, I found it and thought you'd like it," the young man nearly blushed.

And she thought this boy would never love her, young love...how idiotic, Nikola thought as he looked back at Laren. He knew what it was like to love somebody you could never have.

He sighed and put his hands on his hips as the older man hobbled towards them.

"Happy hunting Gruber?" Laren called to him as he got closer.

"Aye, de meck-in, do mi sheer see me loch," muttered the old Scotsman.

"Was that English?" Nikola whispered to Laren.

"He said, Aye but the gears in my old shooter are beginning to lock," Laren translated .

"I did not get any of that," Nikola shook his head.

Laren turned back to the old man.

"Did you manage to get anything?" she asked.

"Ach! Shurr de muin deh bach hoer du huek!" He grumbled again.

The old man muttered away and kept walking to the stable, his two yappy dogs following suit.

"What did he say?" asked Nikola.

"He said that they have everything packed in the back of their truck," said Laren.

"Was he speaking in code?" joked Nikola.

"You just don't have an ear for the language," Laren teased.

"What language? I know seven individually, that was not a language that was a stroke," Nikola commented and Laren laughed and swatted him playfully.

"You get used to it," she said with a smile continuing her folding.

Before Nikola could even comprehend a ball whooshed over his head.

"Oop, sorry," shouted the older brother, Finn.

Suddenly a myriad of dogs came barking towards them and Nikola instinctively pushed Laren out of the way and into the grass, landing on top of her as the dogs ran by after the ball.

"Are you okay?" Nikola double-checked to make sure he hadn't hurt her in the fall.

"I'm, I'm fine," Laren sounded slightly out of breath, possibly because the fall had winded her.

It was the first time either noticed their proximity and it made both their breaths catch.

"I...I hope I didn't hurt you," Nikola muttered.

"You didn't," she said, her tone matching his.

"I..."

"Yes?"

"Are you two alright? I didn't mean to be throwing the ball in your direction," the group of them, Finn, Daniel and Fei Yin ran up to them as Nikola quickly rolled off of Laren and got to hit feet to help her up.

"It's no problem," Laren quickly said as she got to her feet. "We're no worse for ware."

"I don't think we've had the pleasure of meeting you, mister," Finn looked over at Nikola.

"No we haven't," Nikola responded, observing the man. He was young, but no younger than 28, very handsome too.

"Name's Finn," Finn held out his hand to Nikola and Nikola accepted it.

"Nikola, I'm the new chief of security," he said, extracting his hand after three firm shakes.

"My brother Daniel, and those three brutes that nearly stampeded you are Mac, Loch, and Charlie."

Nikola looked at the three large bloodhounds sniffing the ground behind them.

"Charmed I'm sure," Nikola felt the mysophobe in him cringe at the thick lines of saliva coming from each of their mouths.

"Why did you need to find yourself a chief of security, Lar?" asked Daniel.

"Well boys, we've found ourself a bit of a situation," sighed Laren.

"It's Ralph," interjected Fei Yin.

"He still bothering you Fei?" asked Finn, very brotherly.

"What has he done?" asked Daniel, placing a hand protectively on her arm. Her cheeks flushed at the contact.

"Nothing so far, but he is terrorizing the castle. He's been threatening the castle grounds, and has killed a dog, one of which must have belonged to you," answered Nikola.

"Which one?" asked Finn, his concern rising.

"I'm sorry Finn, it was Finian," Laren put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly.

"Finian..." The emotion poured over Finn's face.

"I'm sorry," Laren said again.

"Did you bury him?" he asked.

"Yes, by the old tree," Laren nodded and Finn and Daniel sadly walked away, Daniel consoling his brother as best he could.

"That was rather...emotional," Nikola nodded.

"He raised that dog from a pup, I'd assumed he'd take it hard," sighed Laren.

"Ah," Nikola nodded.

He had that kind of experience with a pigeon once. The white dove...he had nurse her back to health and fallen for her completely, which was strange because she was an animal but the love was there. She imagined her voice, her spirit, could hear her thoughts through her soft coos as if she was an angel sent to him to look after him. She was the one that always came back...till she didn't and then he had fallen into a deep depression.

He sighed. He guessed a dog was no different than a pigeon in that sense. There he was again, following for something he could never have...or at least never have for long.

A thought struck him and he turned to Laren.

"Laren, I..."

"No, Nikola," she said as if reading his thoughts.

He closed his mouth and looked down.

Laren picked up her basket of folded laundry and began walking to the house.

Nikola followed her with his eyes.

"Have you ever considered that it's too late?" he asked and she froze. "That maybe falling is not the issue anymore.

Laren turned her head slightly towards him, her mouth slightly ajar.

"Nikola..."

"I want you," he blurted out. "And I have a feeling you want me too."

She stayed frozen.

"We can't," she stuttered slightly.

"Is it because of your husband?" He asked.

"Yes...and no," she looked down to avert his gaze.

"Then what is it? I saw it, in your eyes, I saw it, when we were lying in the grass together, just moments ago, I see it now, it's why you're trying to hide your eyes from me," she looked up slightly. "Is it because I'm a vampire."

Laren shook her head.

"It just can't happen, whatever you want to happen, it can't. We have to be friends," she said sternly. "Just friends...despite how we may feel."

The "we" in her last sentence cut him a little and the distance between them felt achingly long all of the sudden.

"So we're..."

"Just friends," Laren nodded.

Nikola sighed and nodded.

"Okay," he sighed.

She nodded and turned away continuing her trek up to the house.

Well, at least he'd tried...and now he knew it was at least mutual.

He smirked slightly. That made him feel a little better.

He grabbed his book from the seat of his chair and whistled as he swaggered up to the castle behind her.

_**~~~~Elsewhere~~~~**_

Ralph grunted as he fixed a splint around his broken wrist, the sweat evident on his brow.

"It's different now," he muttered to the shadows.

"This man they've got he's...he's not what he appears to be he's...not human," Ralph said fearfully. "I poured the acid on him and it didn't even slow him down...and then how he..."

Ralph tried not to shudder.

"We should just give up, this isn't simple any more!" Ralph pleaded.

The inky arm of the shadow reached out and grabbed Ralph's wrist, twisting it.

The big man yelped and fell to his knees.

"All right, all right, I'll do it," he cried. "Just please, don't let me hurt her, whatever is in there, don't let me hurt her," he pleaded and the shadow placed a small vial on the table.

Ralph looked over at it fearfully.

"It's a bigger dose than the last one...are you sure?" he asked.

The shadow nodded.

"I don't..."

He jumped back at the sinister hissing noise he heard.

"Alright," he took the vial, and tucked it into his pocket.

The shadow reset his wrist careful and put a strange ointment on it. The pain in his wrist subsided and he cradled his arm.

"Will this help?" He asked.

The shadow nodded.

"Alright. When do we attack again?"


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Dinner that night was full of laughing and joyous sounds, as the three Scottish born and bred men sang and joked, and the multitude of dogs howled.

Nikola sat in his usual spot observing their mirth.

Daniel sat next to Fei Yin and continued to whisper things to her that made her laugh.

On the other side sat Gruber and Finn, their moods greatly improved despite the news of their dearly departed hound. They were drinking more alcohol than he'd been permitted the entire time he'd been here, and sang loudly when the spirit called for it.

Laren hadn't stopped smiling since they'd sat down, enjoying their company. Nikola tried not to notice the fleeting glances she would occasionally shoot his way, but he found himself every so often looking to see if she had.

He nursed his one glass of wine and ate absently, his fork every once in a while stabbing the tender piece of finely cooked venison and bringing it to his mouth, but truth be told he wasn't very hungry. Not like he ever got hungry, food was more like a social thing for him, but to keep up appearances, and just for the sake of flavor and the simple pleasure of it, he ate.

He continued to observe silently all through dinner, and through dessert, which was delicious, he noted.

Gruber and sons seemed to be the life of the party so his participation wasn't sorely missed anyways. He still cradled his half-drunk glass of wine as they moved from the dining hall to the parlor to pour even more alcohol into the groundskeeper's cup as he and Finn pulled out a chessboard determined to play a wicked round of drunk chess.

Laren went over to the gramophone and put on some light waltz music to keep the mood up. He liked the sound of it; it was all instrumental but had a beautiful beat that kept the spirits in the room up and the silence to a minimal.

She poured herself a glass of port and sat on the sofa next to Gruber to watch their game. Nikola caught himself watching her every move but did nothing to remove his gaze from her.

Laren's eyes met his with a warm smile.

"It seems we've lost part of our party," she said lightly.

Nikola smirked.

"I believe Danny boy and Fei Yin decided to go for a walk, it's beautiful tonight," Nikola said casually. "I'm tempted to go out there myself, though it's hardly as enjoyable by yourself."

Laren chuckled and rolled her eyes.

"Are you insinuating something?" she asked.

"Nothing at all, just noting that it's a lovely night for a stroll, or a dance." Nikola put his glass down and stood up, walking over to her.

He held his hand out to her and Laren gave him a look.

"Nikola..."

"It's just a dance, I promise to be on my best behavior." Nikola placed a hand on his heart as if taking an oath.

He grinned down at her and extended his hand out to her again.

"Come on, dance with me," he smirked. "Don't leave me to dance to this beautiful music by myself."

Laren sighed and relented, giving him her hand.

They moved away from the sofas to a wider space in the room, where the light was dimmer and Nikola gently pulled her into a light waltz.

"I never realized you were a dancer," she chuckled.

"There's a lot you don't know about me," Nikola smirked.

"When'd you learn?" she asked.

"When I was five," he said with a shrug. "I had lessons and everything."

Laren smirked.

"And how long ago was that?" she teased.

"Well over 75 years," he chuckled.

"Did your mother teach you?" she asked.

"No, my father was an orthodox priest, dancing was practically a sin in his mind. He only allowed my sisters to learn because it was almost a pre-requisite for any of them to get married. One of his charges though, an old woman he had sent me to visit daily, believed that all young boys should learn to dance. This was when he was trying to make me the picture perfect altar boy that would turn me into the priest he'd always hoped I'd become."

"I see you honored your father's wishes," she teased with a smirk.

"Oh yes, as soon as I could I took all I could pack with me and headed to Austria for school. I got kicked out of the Polytechnic for being smarter than their professors, but I learnt to speak English as a second language so that wound me up in Oxford, England."

Laren nodded.

"That's quite the history," she concluded.

"Well, you asked," he shrugged.

"True I did," she nodded.

"Answer me a few questions then," he challenged her.

"Alright." She looked up at him.

"What were your parents like?" he asked casually.

"Oh, very Scottish," Laren said with a smirk.

"As in?"

"My father was Scottish, born and raised in a family of 8 boys and 1 daughter. He was the eldest so he inherited the family home when his father died and he was all too proud to take it. Hard work was his hobby, horses were his pride, and I was his Scottish princess, my mother his queen."

"Sounds simple," Nikola teased.

"He was." Laren smirked. "My mother was the reader."

"Ah, and what made you decide to marry an Englishman?" Nikola smirked, continuing to sway her gently to the music.

"I met him in college," she said with a sigh. "He kind of charmed me with his English wit."

Nikola smirked slightly and looked down, he knew the feeling.

"So tell me about your groundskeeper," he changed the subject, not really wanting to talk about her late husband anymore.

"An old friend of the family, been here as long as I can remember. Finn was about 14 years old when I left for college. They've always been here, they're like family to me," she smiled over at her two drunk friends as they tried to play chess without falling over.

Nikola smirked at them as well but returned his gaze to her.

"There's a lot of care in this place," he muttered.

"There is," she agreed, not seeing the way he was looking at her.

Nikola didn't want to care so much for a person in a long while, and all of a sudden there she was, someone who needed him, someone he was willing to need.

He stilled and kept his gaze fixed on her. She looked up noticing they had stopped dancing, but her eyes showed no apprehension. She felt the same way and was trying to fight it, he knew she was.

He pulled back suddenly.

"On second thought I'm going to go for that walk, I think I should...find some of your clothes for you," he sighed and she nodded, stepping out of his embrace.

"That would probably be best...you can just bring them to my room when you find them all," she said, a glint of something in her eye that Nikola could not identify, only that it was an invitation to enter her most private sanctum.

She left and returned to her old friends, gently coaxing them to give up their game and sleep off their drunkenness.

Nikola was frozen for a moment, lost in thought at the implications of her allowing him into her room, and what was she truly saying.

He needed to walk it off, he decided and left the parlor.

He stepped outside and breathed in deeply, letting the cool air wash the tingling sensations from Laren's touch right out of him.

Why did he always do this? Why did he always fall for women he couldn't have? Was it just his curse or did he just prefer the challenge?

He decided he'd do a perimeter check, make sure everything was fine before retiring to another night of fitful, lust-ridden dreams that would just drive him more and more crazy about the new woman who would not return his affections. He didn't even know what his affections were, only that they were there, and that they wanted her, and ugh...

He groaned and scrubbed a hand over his face.

His head snapped when he suddenly heard a sound, it was voices...talking, people talking.

He followed the sounds over to the stable and peeked in through the window, maneuvering himself into the shadows to stay out of sight.

Daniel was stroking the mare as Fei Yin scooped oats into her feed bin.

Nikola smirked.

They had been acting like this all night. Fei Yin had no idea the way Daniel looked at her, as if she was the most delicate flower he'd ever seen.

She probably thought it was just friendliness, or whatever her young heart could come up with to excuse it. She was so tentative and meek, and Daniel was the protector sort. Quiet, smart, brave, sweet.

Nikola thought back to when he was the young man's age. He was cocky, headstrong, sure of himself, that was until he met Helen and then he wasn't sure of anything. She struck up wants and desires in him that he never knew he had until her fingers had brushed his, and he started having dreams, fantasies, her in that scarlet gown, stripping it of its layers bit by bit.

Daniel was much to sweet to have those kinds of fantasies about Fei Yin, and truly Fei Yin would never be that bold, but he did want to kiss her, Nikola could tell that much.

"Did you have fun on your travels?" asked Fei Yin.

"I slept most of the time we were on the road, but once we got there I had a time," he said with a casual shrug. "You should come with us sometime, you know, once this whole Ralph business is over."

"I'm not much of a hunter," Fei Yin blushed.

"I'll teach ya!" Daniel sprung up from his position of leaning against the stall and went over to her, standing behind her. He gently lifted her arms up, positioning them as if they were holding an invisible rifle. "Imagine. One of them buck's eating in a clearing. You aim your cross-hairs, like so," he adjusted her invisible rifle, closing one eye as if looking through the scope. "You breath in, and poosh!"

Fei Yin yelped slightly and let go of the invisible rifle with a blush and a giggle.

"I can't," she shook her head.

"Sure you can, you'd have a blast," smirked Daniel.

"No, I couldn't, besides, I need to keep up with my studies," she shrugged.

"Right," Daniel sighed disappointedly. "Maybe some other time, when you're not studying."

"You could still...teach me if you, if you wanted," she added shyly.

Daniel perked up.

"Right, then by the time you get there you'll have no problem," he grinned at her.

Nikola smirked, the cruel fatherly part of him just wanted to burst in and embarrass the hell out of them, just for kicks, but Fei Yin was already tentative as it was and he didn't want to make it worse for her.

"Spying on the horses are you?" Nikola turned to see Laren standing a few feet behind him.

"Young love, you know," he shrugged. "They make everything so difficult."

Laren smirked.

"I remember," she chuckled.

"I was just doing a perimeter check when I heard voices, I was just making sure nothing was wrong," Nikola sighed moving away from the window. "And nothing is so I'll continue my rounds."

Laren fell into step beside him.

"I'll join you," she said.

Nikola shrugged.

"Is the game over?" He said jokingly and Laren laughed lightly.

"Yes, I sent them both to bed, they should be fine by the morning," Laren chuckled.

"Ok, what are we doing?" Nikola spun to around to face her.

"We're walking," Laren said casually.

"No, this I mean, you are sending some very mixed signals right now," Nikola glared at her hard.

"I'm not, we're just chatting," she smiled at him.

"Laren, please," he sighed. "There is an obvious tension between us, and I'm pretty sure it's not just my ego talking."

"Would you prefer it if I ignored you all together?" she smirked at him.

"It would be a lot less confusing," he chuckled.

"Well, I just wanted to make sure you were actually going to bring me my clothes before I retired." Laren smiled but stepped back.

"And I will." Nikola eyed her suspiciously.

"Then I will bid you goodnight." She nodded and walked away.

Nikola watched her leave, feeling as if she had deliberately dodged all of his questions.

Which she had.

What a confusing and infuriating woman. More so than Helen, at least with Helen he could tell when her no's were no's and her no's were yeses.

He shook his head.

Maybe he was just skipping a step. Everything he was feeling was still fresh in his mind, maybe she had already moved on to that flirty friendship that leads no where but is all just a game.

He sighed and decided to distract himself by finding all her clothes as he'd promised.

_**~~~~Elsewhere~~~~**_

Laren made it to her room and groaned as she leaned against the door.

She was being so juvenile. Flirting with him so blatantly even though she had told him she wanted nothing to do with him in that sense. What was she kidding, she hasn't stopped thinking about him since last night, her lust driven further by some rather heated if fantastical dream clearly out of a Bram Stoker novel.

She had been thinking about those teeth, those hands, those eyes, all day.

But it was more to it than just the straight animalistic lust for his monster. The man himself was sweet, brave, caring, protective, and...beautiful. Lithe and lean, but muscular and confident.

It made her groan just thinking about the way he had looked in that river. Hair damp and falling in front of his eyes, spiking up at its own whim. His flat toned chest slightly moving with each deep and calm breath. The sun's reflection off the water dribbling down his back...

She really needed to stop thinking this way.

She shook her head.

How was she going to last another day with him without compromising her resolve?

She stood up off the door and went over to the picture beside her bed. Stroking the face in the photo idly, pondering her position.

Without really thinking about it she put the frame in the drawer of the nightstand and distractedly pulled the clip out of her neatly done up hair, letting it cascade down her back.

She was wearing his shirt, she hadn't taken it off since he gave it to her. It still smelt of him, but it also smelt of her, the two scents mingling in her nostrils.

She looked in the long mirror on the wall at herself.

She must've been driving him crazy with this outfit. Her riding pants hugged each and every one of her lower curves, then with his shirt on top of that. No wonder he was getting mixed signals.

She quickly changed out of the riding pants and into a silken nightgown she had managed to keep out of his paws.

It was low cut, coming down just below her buttocks across her upper thighs. She kept his shirt on over top of it, not quite ready to part with it.

Then she crawled into bed, determined to distract herself with her reading. In a last shuffle she re-clipped her hair back in a clean pinch, sub-consciously baring her long neck to the unprotected eye line of the door.

_**~~~~Elsewhere~~~~**_

He trudged over the muddy hills. Paths he had travelled many times before they should be well worn by now. His tool kit in one hand, the other one clenched in a determined fist.

He walked slowly but surely, pacing himself so he could place himself at the right spot at the right time.

He stopped to look up at the sky.

It could rain, it would rain, that's what he was told, as he was to wait until it did.

He brought his eyes back to the path before him and continued walking. It would not be long now.

To any untrained eye he would've looked intimidating, but to the keen observer they would've noticed the shaking in his limbs, the hesitant look in his eyes, and the feeling he was not all too fond of going forward, but even more terrified of turning back.

Yes, Ralph McGinnis was a man trapped by fear, but too helpless to do anything about it.

Just above him, a flash of silent lightning lit up the sky.

The same lightning was seen by another pair of eyes.

Fei Yin stepped to the window of the stable and looked up to the sky with nervousness.

"We should go," she muttered.

"Huh?" Daniel stepped away from the mare.

"It's late, Lady Hayward doesn't like it when I stay out too late," Fei Yin said nervously. "Besides it's going to rain..."

"Of course, I'll walk you back." Daniel nodded and opened the stable door for her.

_**~~~~Elsewhere~~~~**_

The blinds on Laren's window were drawn, her room lit by the fireplace and a few candles.

She liked the warm glow of candles around her as she read the romantic tale, bound in leather and smelling like something from the past. Those were her favorite kind of books.

The door to her room opened and Nikola came in, dropping a pile of her clothes on her floor.

"There you are," he sighed. "That should be it."

Laren looked up and smiled gratefully.

"Thank you Nikola," she nodded.

"Not a one damaged, though they all could use a run through the laundry most likely," he smirked, welcoming himself into the bedroom.

"Good, then I won't have to charge you," Laren teased, going back to her book.

"You're friends are certainly a wild bunch," he said conversationally.

"Yes, but they're like family," she said with a smile.

"Daniel seems to have a bit of a thing for young Fei Yin," Nikola continued, wandering around the room casually.

"Yes, he does a bit," Laren tried to ignore him as he moved idly, his eyes scanning the room from top to bottom.

"It is funny though," Nikola continued. "I was talking to Fei Yin a day or so ago, she was talking about Daniel as if he was this blind man who was already in love with someone else. I don't know what she thinks but what I saw in that stable was not a meager friendly attraction."

"Yes, the air runs thick with the sexual tension, doesn't it?" Laren said carelessly. Mentally cursing herself for the slip.

"Really?" Nikola looked at her. "You're going to talk about sexual tension while you're sitting there, in that bed, looking like that...and expect me not to do anything about it?"

Laren lifted her gaze to him and smiled softly but firmly.

"Yes," she said confidently. "I do."

There was a tense moment between them as he searched her eyes. She was still wearing his shirt, and her neck was gloriously exposed. It was like she was planning to drive him crazy.

Laren's gaze slowly drifted back down to the book, and Nikola watched her, wondering how on earth he was supposed to respond to all this.

He looked to the door. He could always just leave, no questions asked, go back to his room and bash his head against the wall until he stopped thinking about her.

He looked back at her.

But he had a feeling that's not what she really wanted him to do.

He noted the picture frame of her husband which he had taken note of when he had snuck in to steal her clothes was not where it last was. He could see the dust formation on the desk of where it had been. Now why would she go and hide something like that?

In that moment he knew.

He smirked slightly and slowly made his way over to her. He gently grasped the top of the book and pulled it out of her hands, her eyes following.

"You have sorely overestimated my self-control, Ms. Hayward."

He said her name as if it was a dagger, cutting another one of her ties to the dead man in the photograph.

"And you have sorely misjudged the meaning of my words." Her eyes never left him as she spoke.

Oh, he wanted her.

"If you want me to leave." He sat down on the edge of the bed, slowly, almost cautiously, but soon it was challengingly as their eyes remained locked on each others. "Just say so."

His heart was pounding but he kept it in check as he calmly draped an arm over her middle to rest on the other side of her body, they were barely but just touching each other.

Indecision flashed through Laren's eyes momentarily.

"I want..."

Nikola cut her off by suddenly closing the gap between her and him. His kiss, though tender, was passionate, and it took less than a heart beat for her to welcome it. As if she knew that's what he would do, or maybe that's what she'd hoped.

Her arms wrapped around his shoulder and to his back, pressing him closer to her, dragging the rest of his body on top of her.

The air was soon being knocked out of her lungs as he moved from her lips to her neck as fervently as he had attacked her. His human teeth grazing the sensitive flesh over her carotid artery, then more tenderly up behind her ear.

Mindlessly she was pushing the fabric off of him, her hand willing it to slide of like the mud they had covered themselves with but a day ago.

Nikola chuckled at her insistence but continued peppering the hot open mouthed kisses on to her collarbone.

He smelt the distinct smell of his own linen and groaned, pressing his nose into the fabric of his cotton shirt.

"You're wearing my shirt," he groaned.

She liked the desperately turned on timber to his voice.

"It was cold," she said breathlessly.

He chuckled.

"You've been wearing it all day." He continued kissing her shoulder as he peeled the shirt away. "You have no idea what funky things you've been doing to my ego since I first saw you this morning."

"I can make three intelligible guesses," she teased, subtly pulling his shirt out from its neatly tucked in place in his pants. Her hands slid up his smooth back as his mouth became more preoccupied with her skin than in continuing their banter.

The dim light from behind the window flashed as another streak of lightning struck the sky.

Laren didn't seem to notice as her eyes shut closed. Nikola's lips sliding over hers again, his hand shooting out beside her to hold himself above her as she literally tried to pull his shirt and vest over his head.

"Impatient," he teased when the fabric was clearly not making it past his neck.

She smirked and unbuttoned two or three buttons down, his neck lengthening as the fabric fell away. Her fingertips dragged over his throat slightly, feeling his Adam's apple bob beneath her touch.

He nearly ripped his own shirt off the moment her lips touched his neck.

With her help he pulled off his shirt and vest, despite his suspenders and threw them unceremoniously to the ground in one heap.

Laren grasped his head and pulled him down to her, shifting it from fervent to sensual as her arms wound around his neck and into his hair.

His hands found purchase on her thighs and began slowly sliding upwards underneath the hem of her nightgown. Soon, Laren was half lying on top of him, kissing him soundly, hands on his chest.

The lightning was becoming more frequent outside.

Nikola was too distracted by her to even register it, even when she straddled his hips, her nightgown falling to the floor alongside his clothes.

She was glorious, and his breath hitched slightly.

He sat up, a hand caressing her naked form gently, ghosting up her sides, brushing the corners of her breasts to snake around her neck, grabbing the clip holding her hair and letting her blonde hair fall, framing her face.

It was all he could do not to grasp her head and kiss her passionately. His hands rubbed her back as his hips involuntarily bucked up against hers. His lips found her neck again and slid gently from her nape to the peak of her shoulder, nuzzling more than kissing.

She pulled his suspenders off his shoulders and grasped the back of his head roughly to pull him off her skin, directing him to where she wanted his attentions.

He went obligingly.

_**~~~~Elsewhere~~~~**_

Fei Yin shifted nervously in her sleep. She rolled from side to side, moans escaping her as her face scrunched up in discomfort. She was having a nightmare, or at least the beginnings of one.

He watched her silently from the shadows, beautiful and flawless she was, he had known that from the moment he met her.

He had already incapacitated the others maids, making sure they slept soundly.

He approached the bed carefully, being sure not to wake her.

She shifted again, her dream becoming more frightful.

Was she dreaming of him?

It was enough to make him pause, but he continued to approach like a hunter stalking its prey.

She groaned again then stilled.

Her conscious mind was slowly easing.

Now was his chance.

His hand reached out and grasped her mouth, her eyes shooting open on contact, her cries muffled into his palm.

_**~~~~Elsewhere~~~~**_

Faintly, a scream could be heard reverberating on the castle's stone walls but the only ones that could've heard it were distracted.

Nikola rocked into Laren slowly, lovingly, her moans drowning out any other noise he could've heard.

Her back was pressed into the old mattress, her legs wrapped around his buttocks as he continued his patient and sensual pace. He did not want this to be quick and dirty.

He peppered kisses on her neck, lips, and eyelids in counterpoint to his movements.

He had to love her at this point, the agony and confusion she had swarmed up in him in less than 24 hours was astounding and he planned to take as much time as he could to revel in his victory, a reward for his patience.

Her nails were digging into his back, forcibly trying to drive the monster out, but he held back.

He could look down and he could tell that she wanted to see him transform, to lose the tenuous control he was exerting.

But he was careful not to give into her urgings until he was ready.

He brought his lips down for another sweet and sensual kiss. Lightning flashed against the bare skin of his sweat slicked back.

"Have you ever..." her eyes slipped closed momentarily as she tried to control her breathing. "Have you ever...bitten..."

Nikola chuckled slightly and had to calm his own breathing, taking a loud swallow to moisten his throat.

"Yes, once or twice," he managed to say, his lips kissing her neck for emphasis.

"During this..."

Nikola barely registered the question. He had a few memories of Helen, and maybe a choice few other ladies he'd had the pleasure of the experience with. Helen mainly, she was his first in that respect when she had let him drink from her thigh.

He groaned, not really needing to be fantasizing right now.

"Once or twice," he answered again.

"What's it like?" Laren gasped slightly.

Nikola stilled slightly.

"Are you curious about what it's like to be marked by a vampire?" He asked almost teasingly.

"Yes," Laren looked up at him with a loving gaze.

He grinned down at her and shifted slightly, nuzzling the side of one breast with his face.

"I will say, there are some places I haven't tried," he said huskily.

Laren laughed slightly, but urged him on with her hands at the back of his head.

He let himself morph, his teeth extending slowly as he enveloped her breast with his mouth. Her almost vocal "O" was lined with pain but softened with ecstasy as the initial searing jolt was replaced with a whitewash of pleasure that she couldn't even describe. The remarkable intimacy of his teeth poised above her heart.

In a flash though he pulled back, human again, kissing and licking the wounds.

"Amazing," she gasped, opening her eyes again.

He looked up at her with a grin.

"Thank you," he teased, starting up his pace again.

She laughed with languish as she released her arms and let them flop over above her head, stretching her out magnificently for him to feast his eyes on.

It wasn't long before he was paying equal, if gentler attention to the previously ignored breast.

_**~~~~Elsewhere~~~~**_

Fei Yin came to, blinking in the bleak light. Her arms were bound in front of her and she did not recognize her surroundings.

She looked up and saw Ralph standing a few feet away watching her.

She squeaked and shifted away from him.

"It's alright! It's alright! I won't hurt you," Ralph stepped closer to her. "I've come to protect you."

Fei Yin still stayed away but her demeanor softened.

"I never meant to hurt you," whispered Ralph, shame filling his eyes. "I was told to...you have been nothing but kind to me."

"Why did you shoot arrows at me?" she asked hesitantly.

"I wasn't aiming them at you," he took a step closer. "Hurting you has never been my intention."

"But my friends, Ms. Hayward, you'd hurt them?"

"I don't have a choice. You're the only one I can protect," he kneeled before her and started undoing the knots on her bonds.

"From who?" asked Fei Yin.

"Someone who wants Ms. Hayward dead..."

~~~~Meanwhile~~~~

Nikola latched on to Laren's neck with his lips. Her speed matching his atop him.

Lying passively was not something Laren did for very long, in any capacity.

Though Nikola was too stubborn to play the submissive completely at this point, a part of them still playing their game of rivals, Nikola allowed her a modicum of control.

She rocked into him, coaxing him to pick up the pace a little and he obliged, not able to hold back his animalistic growl as they continued their dance.

Nikola's heart raced as he felt over ever curve he could reach, kissed every patch of skin available to him.

Nikola Tesla had been lover to many women over the centuries, many different women, many who brought out a different side to him, from the loving and gentle, to the rough and masculine, to the downright dominating bastard he knew he could be. With each woman he was invoked with a need when it came to loving them. With Helen, most of the time when he was with her it was a power struggle, they were perfectly matched in skill and ego to challenge each other, almost daring each other to push the lines of their strange and long friendship, it was a battle of wills as well as a battle of wits, culminated in an almost rival-like bond resulting in one of the deepest loves and the hardest heartbreaks.

With Laren, he soon realized, from the moment they met he'd almost had to prove his worth. As if all the ego in the world was not enough to show her he was the worthier man unless he proved it, and he was proving it. He had to prove that he was not George.

Laren clutched his back tighter as the pace quickened even more.

Nikola, with his new found revelation gave her dominance, falling back against the pillows, the pace slowing again. Laren fell against his chest. She looked down at him as his hands slithered to her hips, holding them gently.

Her lips curled into a smile as she sat up fully and placed her hands on his chest.

He moved slowly, letting her get comfortable before determining the pace she wanted to go at.

In a minute they were soon flying into a rapid speed.

He tried as hard to keep his eyes open, but the exquisite sensations were making it a definite challenge. She was racing to the end, and he didn't want that.

In a mad flip he was back on top, again slowing the pace down to a crawl.

His hand reached up and interlaced with one of hers, increasing the intimacy of their lovemaking.

Now supporting himself on one arm, her legs wrapping around his lithe waist, he leaned down and kissed her tenderly, his lips never leaving hers for too long.

The fall was sweet and long, and more explosive than it had been in a long time.

Even with vampire stamina he fell exhausted on top of her, and he welcomed the weight, cradling him between her thighs as she gained control of her faculties.

After a moment he rolled off to the side, heaving in a huge gulp of air. He'd rolled far enough away that there was a decent gap between them.

He looked over at her and they both simultaneously let out a joyous laugh. It still struck them as funny how far they'd come in the last two days.

In their own silent ways they were telling each other of the amazing experience they'd just shared.

Nikola held his hand out to hers and she took it. It was a simple gesture, but it warmed her to the core.

Nikola smiled widely, using their entwined hands to roll himself closer to her, wrapping his arms around her, her back against his front as the pleasant exhaustion swept over them both.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

_**~~~~London Sanctuary~~~~**_

Helen poured over the canister, swabbing sample after sample, running it against a whole manner of herbology, Chinese legends, and even some native salamander sputum.

She had taken samples to experts in the city, Chinese immigrants, even to some of the residents with an increased ability for smell or taste, anything to understand the makeup of the organic acid in this canister.

Nikola had been right when he said he couldn't have run the tests himself.

James came into the lab and placed a cup of teas in front of her.

"Any luck?" he asked.

"As far as my research goes, zilch," she sighed. "Blasted secret family recipes."

"Are you even sure it's of Chinese origin?"

"It was Nikola's theory, and it makes the most sense. The Chinese have a much longer history and understanding of organic chemistry than any other country. I've even looked into some Hindu cults just to be sure. But with these kinds of things, they are close guarded family secrets, tracing back to the Xia Dynasty, maybe even further than that."

"Have you ever wondered if you are over thinking it?" asked James.

"We're talking about the race of people who invented gun powder while trying to create an elixir of immortality while the rest of the world was in the dark ages," sighed Helen. "I severely doubt it's something as simple as a pinch of salt and a dash of cumin."

James smirked.

"Au contraire, dear Helen, for what is alchemy if not the combination of the world's most simplest elements," James said casually.

"Go on," coaxed Helen, clearly intrigued.

"Tell me, what do we know of the substance so far?" asked James.

"It is harmless until mixed with water then it's chemical make up changes from relatively benign to incredibly volatile and acidic in nature, even more potent than some of your garden variety acids."

"So, what's water made up of?" asked James again.

Helen gave him a skeptical look.

"We both took the same chemistry class at Oxford James."

"So then you should know what elements come together to make water," he said nonchalant.

"Hydrogen and oxygen, but that's..." Helen trailed off, her kind started to pick up the pieces.

"There you go, glad I could help," James smirked. "Call me when you want me to get the car ready."

He waltzed out with a certain smug spring in his step.

Helen looked out the window at the dark clouds, obliterating the night sky.

She bit her lip and looked back at the canister.

She didn't know why but she felt as though she should hurry.

"Nikola," she muttered. "What have I gotten you into?"

_**~~~~Elsewhere~~~~**_

The loud crack of deep rumbling thunder knocked Nikola of his deep and peaceful sleep. His arms still around the woman he had inexplicably fallen for.

That should've been enough for him to close his eyes and return to the peaceful realm of dreams he was in but there was something. Something in the air, so subtle only he could've smelt it.

Instinctually he sprung up, his vampire senses tingling, letting out a growl.

Laren was awoken and sat up, her hand rested on his shoulder.

"Nikola, what's wrong?" she was soon wrapping her her arms around his middle and kissing his back, as if he'd woken from a bad dream, but his dreams had been full of beautiful images of her.

"I don't know," his deep vampiric voice rumbled out his throat. He almost hadn't realized he'd changed. "I have a feeling."

Another crack of thunder drew his attention to the window and the sudden out pour of rain falling on the roof of the old castle.

He pulled out of her embrace and went over to the window.

"Oh god," Laren understood.

She got up, grabbing his shirt and her riding pants, quickly changing into her practical outfit.

Nikola was still searching outside the window for a threat.

She brought over his rumpled clothes and he took them absently.

"Is he out there?" she asked.

"I don't know," he shook his head.

Suddenly, the ringing of the phone in the hall pierced through the still night air.

Nikola was quick to throw on his trousers and run out of the bedroom to answer it.

"Hello," he said hurriedly.

"Nikola! Nikola are you alright?" Helen's voice sounded excited and concerned at the same time.

"Helen, what is it?" His concern matched hers.

"The canister you sent me, the liquid, it's extracted from a series of plants only found on the border of Southeast Asia, said to have certain chemical properties. Whoever you're dealing with must have a knowledge of ancient Chinese alchemy."

"And what about the resin covering it?" asked Nikola.

"That? It seemed to be a simple concoction of beeswax, honey, and lanolin, completely organic, I assume it effects almost as a neutralizing agent to the acid," suggested Helen.

"Hmmm," Nikola bit his lip as he thought.

"This isn't just some child's game Nikola, whoever is doing this must be highly intelligent, highly organized, and well versed in Asian culture," warned Helen.

"So what? Radicals?" he asked, looking over to Laren. She listened to the conversation intently.

"I don't Nikola, but this has officially become a lot bigger than we surmised," she said authoritatively.

"Helen, don't, whatever you're thinking don't do it," he warned.

"James and I will be there as soon as we can..."

"No, Helen, no..."

"We just need you to-"

The line suddenly went dead.

"Helen? Helen!"

"What's wrong?"

"The line's been cut," he put the phone down.

"Ralph?" worry washed over her features.

"I'd assume so," he nodded.

"What are we going to d-"

She was cut off as Daniel bolted up the stairs.

"Fei Yin has gone missing!" he cried.

"What?" Nikola barked and ran past him, down the stairs to the servants quarters. All the rest of the maids slept soundly, almost hauntingly so.

Laren and Daniel followed after. Laren immediately went over to one of the bed and felt around for a pulse.

"They're alive," she let out a gasp of relief. "He must've drugged them."

"Chloroform no doubt," Nikola added moving towards the one empty bed.

"I heard her scream," said Daniel. "I thought maybe she was having a nightmare."

Nikola growled to himself.

"I didn't hear her," he looked over at Laren and then looked back at the cot. "I should have."

"I didn't hear anyone coming or going though, and by the time I got down here she was gone," continued Daniel. "What do you think he'll do to her?"

"Nothing," Nikola said sternly. "She's not the target, not directly anyway. Whoever is doing this is smart and vengeful and using a brute and his affections as a means to an end. I bet you anything he has kidnapped her in some demented idea that he is keeping her safe from whatever is going to transpire here."

"Here?"

"Someone wants you dead," Nikola turned to Laren. "Or wants this castle destroyed."

"Me?" Laren said.

"You and your late husband make a lot of enemies during your time in China?" asked Nikola.

"It was a time of war, none of it was personal," shrugged Laren.

"How did George die?"

"What? Well, he was...he was MIA, presumed dead, he wasn't amongst the POW's that were released after the ceasefire, and there hasn't been word of him for years. I searched for him that full year, looking for him anywhere because I did not, I could not believe he was dead. Do you think he was killed by someone specifically?"

"Yes, and whoever it is that killed him is here to finish the job. How long have you been staying at the castle?" Nikola continued,

"Only the last year full time, the rest of the time I had been..."

"Searching. It's taken them this long to find you and now they are seeking their vengeance."

"Who? We never harmed anyone directly," Laren said earnestly.

"It doesn't have to be direct, it could be a lonely man whose family was killed because of the protest, a group of fanatical idiots seeking revenge on all the British and American soldiers that played a hand in the dissolution of their homes, of their way of life. It doesn't have to be personal."

Laren bit her lip.

"But whoever it is will not care about who he has to hurt to get his vengeance on you. Honorably, Ralph does care about Fei Yin."

"What can we do?" she asked.

"We need to wake up your father and brother, we need to wake all of these women up, smelling salts or any kind of strong potent odor should do the trick. Then we need to take them someplace safe, the less casualties the better. Put Finn on guard duty, bar the windows, and get yourselves into a well armed, and secure place inside the castle. Also, do you happen to have beeswax, honey and lanolin?"

"Wool wax? Yes," nodded Laren. "My mother used it to waterproof our winter clothes."

"Excellent, combine all three of those elements in a bathtub and cover yourself with it, and whatever else you can think of," Nikola ordered firmly.

"What about you?" asked Daniel.

"I'm going to go get Fei Yin," Nikola moved past them to return to the stairs.

"Wait, I'm coming with you," said Daniel, grabbing his arm.

"Your intentions, though honorable are futile. I'm not going there to cause a fight, I'm going there to convince Ralph that Fei Yin will be safe with me. You are more help to Laren than to me," he made the young man release his arm.

"What if you can't convince him?" asked Daniel. "What if you are putting her even more in danger?"

"Then only one of us will have to die instead of two, stay here."

"But, I..."

"I know, and if you really do love her you will wait here and let me protect her," Nikola growled.

Daniel stepped back, feeling dejected.

Nikola began running up the stairs again.

"Nikola, wait?" Laren called after him, running up to him. "Be safe."

She grasped his head and kissed him soundly.

"You better come back in one piece," she whispered huskily.

Nikola grinned.

"Yes ma'am."

He kissed her one last time.

"Remember, beeswax, honey, lanolin," he whispered as Laren nodded.

"How much of it?"

"As much as we have," he turned and continued up the stairs.

"Wait, take my hunting rifle!" called Daniel.

"Don't need it," Nikola answered and kept going, leaving the two of them at the bottom of the stairwell.

Laren patted Daniel's back.

"It's ok, he'll bring her back safely."

Daniel nodded and began ascending the stairs slowly.

Laren bit her lip nervously as she watched him go. She was unsure and scared about all of this, but she had to do what she was told. If not for her sake than for the sake of all the people under her care, her family...and for her new found lover.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Ralph undid the rope around Fei Yin's wrist and rubbed the raw skin gently with his large thumb.

"I'm sorry," he said softly.

"Why are you doing all this?" asked Fei Yin.

"I don't have a choice...he made me, he said if I didn't then..."

"Then what?"

Ralph blinked away tears.

"I never wanted to hurt anybody. It was only meant to be a threat...but he had other plans..."

"Who? Who is he?"

Ralph shook his head.

"I can't," he stepped away from her. "I've already put you in enough danger. He's crazy."

Fei Yin bit her lip and sat back, fully taking in her surroundings. It looked like an old cave, dry and warm but domed and echo-ey.

It gave her the chills.

"Where are we? she asked.

"By the river," he stated simply.

"The river?" Fei Yin shivered.

"It's the only place I could take you."

"Why?"

"He's coming, Fei, and he doesn't care who stands in his way," Ralph was starting to look mighty feverish, sweat was forming on his brow and his hands were beginning to shake.

"Ralph, you don't look well," Fei Yin came over to him and placed a gentle hand on him.

"It's wearing off, the serum he gives me, it's wearing off," he pulled a syringe out of his pocket. "I stopped taking it...for you."

Fei Yin stated at it with wide eyes.

"Take it!" she insisted. "Or he'll kill you!"

Ralph shook his head.

"No! I become...I'm like an animal, I have no control...I'll hurt you as if you were nothing, I don't want to," Ralph shook his head emphatically.

"Do you have any water?" Fei Yin tried to remain calm.

He nodded and pointed to his tool kit.

"In there," he groaned.

Fei Yin nodded and went over finding the small canteen.

Ralph leaned against the wall, cradling his aching wrist.

"I never wanted to do this. I only ever wanted to...to take you out, you know, buy you flowers one time. Talking to you...you didn't care about my size, you weren't scared of me," Ralph looked at her in a way she couldn't describe and she bit her lip. "Course, I know you were only being nice, that's what you are, a sweet girl...you're nice to everybody."

Fei Yin brought over the canteen.

"You don't give yourself enough credit," she said with a sweet smile. "You are nice as well."

"Not anymore, I've sold my soul to the devil," he winced.

Fei Yin shook her head and opened the canteen lifting it up to his lips so he could drink from it.

"You're not evil, Ralph," she said with more courage than she has ever had before. Spending time with Tesla was beginning to rub off on her a little, it helped that she was thinking about what he would do in this situation. "Whoever is controlling you is the monster."

"He's worse than that," Ralph was visibly shaking throughout now. "He's the devil himself, here to destroy us one by one."

Fei took a rag from the toolkit and dumped a small amount of the water on to it, using the now damp cloth to mop his forehead with.

"I'm sorry," Ralph whimpered.

Fei Yin gave him a soft smile and leaned over tentatively and pecked his cheek.

His shakes seemed to calm down a fraction at the warm gesture.

"Your bodyguard isn't normal either," Ralph said after a moment.

"Nikola?" she blinked at his sudden change in topic.

"What kind of hell's creature is he?"

"What are you talking about?"

_**~~~~Elsewhere~~~~**_

Nikola stopped running at his unnatural speed; he was vampired out in full-mooned glory, his blood-black eyes gleaming in the faint starlight.

He sniffed the air. He could smell her, him as well to an extent, but mostly the soft flowery scent of the young girl he'd spent the past week protecting.

The rain had stopped pouring for a brief respite but judging by the clouds a larger and more violent storm was on its way.

He sniffed again. It was faint but it was there.

His fangs bared and he let out a growl. If he hurt her in any way there'd be no stopping him from killing him.

He hissed and began running again.

_**~~~~Elsewhere~~~~**_

Ralph was shaking badly now, his good arm wound around his middle as he fought the nausea of his apparent withdrawal. Fei Yin continued to mop up his overheating forehead.

"You're too kind," he muttered hoarsely.

"You're sick," said Fei Yin.

"Yah, but you could've run, you could've kicked me and ran back to the castle not believing a word I said," groaned Ralph.

"And leave you like this?" Fei Yin said with genuine surprise, it had never even occurred to her to run.

"See? That's why I love you," Ralph reached a shaky hand to caress her cheek.

Fei Yin froze slightly at the gesture and at his words.

"You?"

"I know you don't reciprocate, not after all I've done, but I do," he smiled weakly. "You think of everyone before yourself...even if that person has done you wrong."

"Ralph..."

"You don't have to feel anything back, I'm just...letting you know," he winced and shivered, his arms clutching around him tighter. "I feel so sick. Like I've been poisoned."

"Maybe you have," Fei Yin, looked at the hypodermic needle lying next to his fist.

"I wouldn't be surprised," Ralph laid his large hand over her tiny one. "Thank you."

"I'm sorry, I wish I could've..."

Before she could finish her sentence a loud banging jolted her attention elsewhere.

Nikola burst in. His hair sticking on end almost looking animalistic, his fangs bared and his talons elongated.

Fei Yin jumped back at the sight of her transformed protector. Without a moment of thought he grabbed Ralph and slammed him against the wall.

"Fei Yin, get out," the deep unnatural rumble caused her and Ralph to quiver in fear.

"Don't hurt him," Fei Yin said.

"He kidnapped you and has tried to kill you before, and I will not let him get away with it," he growled, his clawed fingers wound closer to Ralph's throat.

"He's not keeping me captive, just look at him, he can barely walk," said Fei Yin with a surprising amount of courage.

Nikola de-morphed and stepped back.

"He's going through some kind of withdrawal," continued Fei Yin. "From this."

She held up the vial.

Nikola took it gently in his human hands.

"What is this?" he growled at Ralph.

"It's what he gave me," gasped Ralph through his fever.

"Who gave it to you?" Nikola pressed sternly.

"I don't...I don't know his name," Ralph's head drooped as he fell into semi-unconscious.

"Nikola, you should go back to the castle, I'm safe here, really," said Fei Yin as she tended to Ralph.

"I can't do that," Nikola shook his head. "It's my job to protect you."

"I'm not the one who needs protecting now, its Ms Hayward," said Fei.

"Laren? But Ralph is here," Nikola said confused.

"I know, it's not Ralph who'll be coming after her," Fei watched as Nikola's genius mind began to put things into place.

"You mean, whoever orchestrated this is..."

Fei Yin nodded.

Nikola's eyes widened as realization dawned on him and he turned back to the entrance of the small cavern.

"I...I..." he was stumped on what to do. He had to save Laren but he couldn't just leave Fei Yin here unprotected with a man who had yet to earn his trust. He was torn.

_**~~~~Elsewhere~~~~**_

Laren stirred the strange, sticky mixture in the tub with a large wooden spoon, traditionally used for laundry but in this case it worked just fine.

She hummed as she stirred, only to break the fearful silence of the now empty castle. Daniel and Finn had managed to evacuate the rest of her staff and Gruber had offered to drive them to a safe location in town, but it still left her, Daniel, and Finn to safeguard her family home.

Outside the castle walls Finn patrolled the perimeter shot gun in arms and dogs at his heels. The bloodhounds sniffed the ground happily.

On the inside, Daniel was nailing wood boards overtop the windows and spare doors leaving only a few special escape routes in case whatever happened got exceedingly out of hand.

It was eerily quiet around the whole house, and a heavy misty fog swirled around their heels putting everyone on high alert.

Laren finished stirring the mixture and wiped her hands, getting up from the stool she had placed beside the tub. It was ready; all she needed to do was check up on Daniel and Finn. She could hear the tap tap tap of Daniel's hammer as he nailed another board over one of the windows. As could also hear Finn's dogs barking and yipping away. She stepped out of the bathroom and looked down the hall.

She was worried; she felt it as she looked at his closed door. She quietly crept over, as if she could be caught and snuck in. The room smelt like him instantly upon entering, like spice and wine and old books.

The bed was made but wrinkled, the book of poetry he'd been carrying around all day sat on the nightstand. She could still recall the events of last night with crystal clear clarity. She could feel the bumps of the healing wound on her breast where his teeth and entered her, her fingers ghosted over them gently. He had marked her, marked a piece of her heart as his own where George couldn't reach her.

She was still wearing his shirt, and though it was slowly losing his scent, what was left was mingling with hers and she liked the smell very much, it was comforting.

She sat on the edge of the bed and lightly caressed his pillow.

What was to happen when all of this was through? Would he stay? Would she go with him? Would he want her to? All the uncertainty had her stomach winding into knots.

She laid her head on his pillow and breathed in deeply, remembering the feeling of his arms wrapping around her last night, cradling her softly against him, the soft and peaceful sigh he had emitted into her hair.

She could have laid there forever.

Her daydream was ended abruptly by the sound of gunshots and yelling. Finn's dogs were barking up a storm as he was firing at something.

Laren sat up quickly and ran to the window to see what was happening and what he was shooting at. The fog was so thick she could barely see the ground below her, let alone Finn and his dogs.

One last shot was fired before it went eerily silent again.

Laren felt goosebumps prickle her skin.

The dogs howling and whimpering through the fog made her jump but then they went silent as well. Her heart started beating very loudly and her breath quickened.

She left the warm and safe protection of Nikola's room to check on Daniel. He was no longer hammering away which made her fear the worst.

She ran around the main level searching for him. She found his hammer but he was nowhere in sight. She was tempted to call out for him but thought against in, unsure if she could even stabilize her voice to make any noise above a whisper

She heard a noise behind her and she spun around erratically looking for its source.

"Nikola?" she called out instinctively.

There was no response.

Suddenly, the same fog that had plagued the outside sky was now filtering in, as if it were the threat itself. The room was quickly filled to the brim with it. She could barely see past her nose. She trembled and backed into a wall. She jumped away from it and kept moving.

She suddenly felt a hand or something like it reach for her arm and she screamed, running away, managing to find the door to the room and reach it, despite the thick smog. She made it to the foyer and ran as fast as she could to her room. He slammed the door shut and locked it tight before launching herself over to her bed and pulling the small pistol from between the mattress and the box spring. She sat behind the bed using it as a barricade as she double-checked that the weapon was loaded.

Panic was rising in her throat and she let out a squeal or squeak before calming herself. This was not the first time she had been in danger; just with the smoke and the confusion she was having an adverse reaction to it. Soon Nikola would be coming back and whatever was out there would have to deal with him, she would just have to hold her own until then.

Laren clicked the safety off the weapon and gently turned to hoist herself up partially on her knees, poising the gun towards the door.

The fog had followed her and was creeping underneath the crack in the door. It was frightening, this ethereal fog chasing after her, it was like something out of a Mary Shelley story or an Edgar Allan Poe poem.

It wafted in slowly as if searching for her. She instinctively moved away from it slightly.

A sudden bang at the door made her jump. The doorknob jiggled slightly at first, then secondly with a lot more haste. Someone or something was trying to make its way in.

The fog was coming in heavier now, filling up the room slowly but surely.

She wanted to call out for him, she wanted for him to save her. She had never wanted her protector more than she wanted him right now.

She crawled back, trying to escape the encompassing fog, still holding the gun in her now shaking fingers.

It sounded like someone was trying to rip the door off its hinges.

The fog was so thick now she could barely see the outline of her bed anymore, let alone the door.

A loud crack and the room went silent. She listened for footsteps, for breathing, for any sign that what was chasing her was human.

She shivered, clutching the gun tighter to her.

If it was Nikola he would've called out to her, said something, anything to aleve her panic.

It wasn't Nikola.

Before she could comprehend she felt a shadow move around her and encompass her face, throwing her into darkness as she let out a shrill and terrified scream.

_**~~~~Elsewhere~~~~**_

"I can't just leave you here," Nikola scrubbed a hand through his hair.

"Yes you can, it's more dangerous for me to come with you than to stay here," Fei said with more determination than she's shown the entire time he's been here.

"He's unpredictable," Nikola defended.

"He won't hurt me," Fei Yin kept mopping up Ralph's brow as he shivered in his feverish dreams.

"It's my job to protect you, Fei," he said sternly.

"And Ms. Hayward's," said Fei. "You love her."

Nikola's resolve was weakening at the mention of her name. His whole body screamed to run back to the castle and hold her in his arms but his sense of duty kept him rooted to the spot.

"Fei, just...just let me put you someplace safe, somewhere where I know you'll be safe, just not here," he pleaded.

"It will take too much time, Ms. Hayward is in danger now," Fei said boldly.

"Since when have you become princess of the brave?" Nikola barked.

"I had a good role model," she smirked at him.

Nikola rolled his eyes, now was not the time to be emulating his self-sure way of stubbornness.

"I'm flattered but I can't leave unless I know you're safe, and frankly his little apology did very little to that effect. And look at him! If someone were to come looking for him how could he possibly defend you. He can barely stay awake let alone stand. You are sitting ducks if this turns out to be more than a one man deal."

Fei Yin shook her head.

"His strength will recover," she said confidently.

"Maybe in a week, but we don't have that kind of time," sighed Nikola.

"Neither do we have the time to argue, just go!"

"Fei Yin, I must insist, you either come with me willingly or I throw you over my shoulder and drag you along," Nikola stood firm and threatening.

"I don't think Ralph would appreciate that," said Fei Yin.

"Well what's he going to do about it?" Nikola sneered.

"He still has this hypodermic needle," she held it up for him to see. "If he saw you dragging me away unwillingly he could take it to regain his strength and then you really would have a problem.

Nikola gaped. Since when did the little Chinese lotus learn to extort?

He growled.

"You can't ask me to trust your life in the hands of a man who aimed flaming arrows at your hea-"

The sound of footsteps cut him off and his head snapped to their source.

"What is it?" asked Fei, her timidity returning.

Nikola shushed her and went to the side of the wall near the entrance.

The footsteps got louder and more hesitant, more careful and he poised himself ready to strike at whatever was coming.

His talons elongated slightly and his fangs protruded from behind his lips slightly.

The footsteps got closer and closer and...

"Daniel!" Fei Yin sprung up just as Nikola was about to pounce on the offending boy. He spun and quickly de-morphed before turning back to him fully human.

Fei Yin wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I told you not to follow me!" Nikola barked.

"I didn't...I didn't know what else to do," Daniel protectively wound an arm around Fei's shoulders.

"You were supposed to stay back and protect Laren!" Nikola grabbed the young Scotsman by the collar and glared at him fiercely.

"I did, I was doing exactly what you told me to do and then...then it came...it took my brother and his dogs, I managed to escape. It was so quiet...it came in the fog...I ran to find you," Daniel blurted out quickly.

"How did you find me?" Nikola asked calmly.

"Daniel's one of the best trackers in the land," Fei Yin answered for him. "He can track anything."

"Except for the thing that attacked us...there was no sounds...just fog," Daniel jumped in.

Nikola released him and scrubbed a hand over his face and through his hair.

"And Laren?" he asked, worry seeping into his voice.

"I don't know," Daniel shook his head.

Nikola let out an exasperated breath.

"Fine, you stay here and look after Fei and that one," Nikola pointed sternly at Ralph. "Do not move, do not go out, do not even pace, just sit and stay here with your gun pointed at the entrance until I come back for you, is that perfectly clear?"

Daniel nodded.

"And if he wakes up just let Fei Yin handle him, ok?"

Daniel nodded again.

"What if you don't come back?" Daniel asked as Nikola started to head out of the cavern.

"Just stay here!" Nikola barked.

Before Daniel could ask anymore Nikola was off at full vampiric speed towards the castle, praying that Laren was still alive when he got there.

_**~~~~Elsewhere~~~~**_

Laren's eyes opened lazily. Where was she?

Her eyes were blurry and her head felt groggy.

All she remembered was the fog and the door and then nothing.

She looked around as her eyes adjusted.

It was very dark and she couldn't see much beyond the small halo of light that surrounded her.

This was the old bath quarters underneath the servant quarters if the castle. She recognized it as such.

It used to have almost a natural spring coming from the river back in the days when the river was higher. Hot coals were used to heat the water creating an almost Grecian like bathhouse in the Scottish countryside for use by the fighting clansmen. It had never been in use for as long as she has lived but her father and grandfather maintained it, making sure no animals nested inside destroying the ancient architecture and tiling of the bathhouse.

The constant sound of water dropping wasn't unusual in this place as there was a mouth leading from the bathhouse to the riverbank.

The castle rested on a now high spot so there wasn't a steady stream but the tell tale sign that she was in the bathhouse was that she could here the river rushing by echoing through the dark cave like surroundings.

The river moved much faster at this point, whereas the common spot used for swimming, where she and Nikola had swam together, was a lot calmer.

She was bound, both her hands and her feet to what felt like one of the dining room chairs.

The light came from one of the old chandeliers used to light this place. Her father had always used to light them when she was a child to keep the old place alive. When all the candles were lit they cast warm glows, making all of her memories of the old bathhouse rather warm and inviting.

But now with only the meager amount of light and probably the lack of up keeping, it seemed rather menacing.

She shivered slightly and jumped at the sound of the ground shifting; a footstep or a rock being kicked.

"Who's there?" she called.

She looked around.

"Show yourself!" she barked. "What do you want from me?!"

Her scream echoed through the cavern.

In the shadows she could just make out a silhouette of someone, a man, possibly?

"Who are you?" she glared right at it. "Why are you here?"

The silhouette moved slightly.

"Answer me!" she barked. "You coward!"

It was moving closer to her.

"If you're going to kill me then get it over with," Laren spat.

"I'm not going to kill you," finally came a response from the shadow.

Laren's voiced hitched. That voice.

"It can't be..." she gasped.

The shadow stepped slowly from the shadows and into the light.

He had scars along his face, partially from shrapnel, partially from torture. He wore imperial garments, a black leather trench coat and a black military uniform, the symbols and medals foreign to her. He wore a black eye patch as well over his right eye. But even through the menacing garb and the atrocious scars she saw it was him.

"George?" she gasped, feeling somewhere between immense joy and profound fear.

"Laren, my love," he grinned and a jolt of fear struck through her. "Miss me?"


End file.
